Ed Zschau

Partner, Parker Remick | Retained Search for Product and Engineering Leaders | Love my family | Opinions are my own

[Ed Zschau @edzschau]

@CoachDanGo VO2 Max is the key for me among these four. If you focus on improving VO2 Max, working out, and eating healthy, the other metrics will follow.

[Ed Zschau @edzschau]

@joshelman Four

[Ed Zschau @edzschau]

@bgarlinghouse Read that this morning. Awesome

[MightyCardinal @MightySCardinal]

Great teams are built on moments. @StanfordBSB is creating more and more of these moments. It’s time to make these moments expectations and not ‘nice surprises’. Let’s put FSU away tomorrow as a signature sweep and drive towards a top 8th finish in the ACC. Every moment counts.

[Ed Zschau @edzschau]

@thogge @BYUMBB BYU should be in. 13 Q1/Q2 wins and no Q3/Q4 losses. Stanford has 9 Q1/Q2 wins and 3 Q3 losses and we’re still holding out hope for tourney if we take two in ACC tourney.

[Ed Zschau @edzschau]

Congrats to Bellarmine on their first win of the season

[Bellarmine Athletics @BCPSports]

Final: Bells 6 Sobrato 0

[Nichole Wischoff @NWischoff]

Renting a nice place in SF is more competitive than winning a seed deal right now

[Ed Zschau @edzschau]

@bhalligan Absolutely!!

[Ed Zschau @edzschau]

@jessicapeltz @NWischoff Agree. Smart founders leave a little value on the table to get the best investors into the early round. You can make up valuation later if your early product is worth a damn.

[Ed Zschau @edzschau]

@NWischoff Great data Nichole. Is taking 10% of first calls from inbound deal flow a typical ratio? Regardless, you had a busy Q2.

[Ed Zschau @edzschau]

@erica_wenger Tougher in 30s/40s definitely. Have a text thread with a half dozen college friends that is very active. Covers lots of stuff. Get together for trips 1x a year. Have involved partners the last 5 years.

[Ed Zschau @edzschau]

@jefielding Connect those founders with the VCs who replied to your tweet

[Ed Zschau @edzschau]

@Stephania_ESPN Indeed Steph. Purdy’s contract offers a friendly structure, allowing the 49ers to extend Fred Warner and flexibility to pick up midseason starters.

[Ed Zschau @edzschau]

Awesome achievement. Go Bells!

[Bellarmine College Preparatory Baseball @bellsbaseball]

2025 WCAL CHAMPIONS ‼️‼️

BELLS CAPTURE THE WCAL TITLE FOR THE FIRST TIME SINCE 2013 ‼️

#GoBells | #BCPBaseball

[Ed Zschau @edzschau]

@BarryRoland19 @grok what is the value in today’s dollars if I invested $1 million in Berkshire Hathaway stock in 1981?

[Ed Zschau @edzschau]

@CollinRugg Worst airline on the planet. How they are still in business is baffling.

[Ed Zschau @edzschau]

@thogge Trapped

[Jack Altman @jaltma]

There has been lots of talk recently about how the new cohort of mega funds might play out in venture.

Josh had the most cogent analytical take I've heard, the "venture arrogance score".

[Josh Kopelman @joshk]

I've spoken to a lot of VCs and GPs in my career - and here is what many of them miss:

In venture, "how fast you win" matters just as much as "how much you win".

Imagine if you ran a venture fund that has 4x gross return (top quartile performance) - with the following specifics:

100% of capital called evenly over first five years
1x distributed spread evenly over last half of fund life
1x distributed in the third-to-last year of fund life
1x distributed in the second-to-last year of fund life
1x distributed in the last-year of fund life

If fund life is 10 years - this would generate around 27% IRR

If fund life is 18 years - this would generate around 11% IRR

Longer duration transforms a very strong multiple into an IRR that would have underperformed the S&P 500 over the last decade.

Mick Jagger would be a lousy VC. Time isn't on your side.

[Hiten Shah @hnshah]

If you’re a first-time founder, this is what you signed up for.

The investor who never replies. The customer who churns without warning. The teammate who quits two weeks before launch. The launch that flops. The week where nothing moves.

And the question that creeps in quietly: “Am I even good at this?”

Nobody prepares you for that part. They talk about product-market fit, go-to-market, fundraising. But they don’t tell you what happens when all of it stalls at once. And you’re still the one who has to figure it out.

Here’s the truth:

You’re not building a startup. You’re building the version of you that can survive one.

That means making decisions with half the data. Keeping morale up when yours is gone. Holding the line when everything feels shaky.

It’s not about being fearless. It’s about showing up when you’re full of doubt.

It’s not about having a plan. It’s about moving when the plan falls apart.

First-time founder doesn’t mean first-time pressure. It means first-time accountability when it’s all on you.

And still you keep going. That’s what makes you real. Not traction. Not funding. Not followers.

Just the ability to stay in it. Long enough to become undeniable.