kiteboarding article from mercury news

p-air · Post by **p-air** » Sat Jun 28, 2008 10:42 am

Bill's been getting written up as a kiting VC for several years because it's novel angle that newspaper and magazine writers like to exploit. They're always looking for something beyond the VC 'x' invested in Company 'y' and made 'z$'.

Because Bill is a VC, and for some time has been known to kitesurf, he gets approached regularly. I know Bill, and know that he's not a publicity hound. I've been interviewed for 3-4 kitesurfing articles and news stories about early stage tech company entrepreneurs who also kite. Didn't go looking for this either.

As for Mai-Tai Kite Camp, he's not looking for attention there as it's intended for his firm's portfolio companies and close biz associates, not for the public. Hence, PR for that would be a veritable waste.

While you may not like the spin this reporter put on this interviewed, it has nothing to do w/Bill, but more w/the author's over-zealous enthusiasm to write a sensationalistic piece. In the NY Times article I was quoted and pictured, I told the guy that I kite 3-5 days per week and he wrote 3-5 times per day...go figr ;) Bill's one of the good guys, and while he may not be your mayor at 3rd Ave, he's certainly worth meeting as he's truly passionate about the sport as all of you are.

peace...

PS: no, he didn't pay to write this, I just know the guy :)

Loscocco · Post by **Loscocco** » Sat Jun 28, 2008 11:07 am

LOL 3-5 times a day.. come on P-Air.. you can admit your are an addict... we will have to have a board meeting to discuss this matter.

grumpy · Post by **grumpy** » Sat Jun 28, 2008 7:34 pm

So I guess 12 sit ups became 1200 by the reporter. Sure.

bobbyboom · Post by **bobbyboom** » Sat Jun 28, 2008 10:58 pm

I met Bill at 3rd about a week ago. The guy was really cool for sure. I didn't get any funky vibe at all. I agree with p-air on the unintended PR spin. The press do tend to exagerate things and they don't let you pre-screen the articles before they go live. From my experience with the press they always get at least one important fact way off.

1,200 sit ups? That's pretty sweet man. Abs of steel. Maybe he'll put together an instructional video so we can learn. Maybe Grumpy and Yuri can be featured as Bouns material! :mrgreen:

-BOOM

mayhem · Post by **mayhem** » Mon Jun 30, 2008 10:49 am

Well put P-air! Bill is a great guy! Very unpretentious and loves kiting!

reyrivera · Post by **reyrivera** » Mon Jun 30, 2008 11:08 am

Cool, why not have him say hello and post something here in the forum?

go4kitesurfing · Post by **go4kitesurfing** » Mon Jun 30, 2008 2:26 pm

sloughslut wrote:viet-cong.

ha ha ha, that's pretty funny ... i guess you are referring to the way VCs kill things off when they loose interest since i have yet to meet a communist among them ...

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kiteboarding article from mercury news

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