Thanksgiving is a great day to step back, take a breath, and be GRATEFUL. It’s something that we simply don’t do enough of in the tech startup world and it would serve us well. In an industry of endless demands and possibilities, we’re so busily focused on the future that we rarely take time to reflect and be grateful for all our amazing accomplishments to date. Thanksgiving comes along every year to remind us to do just that. So, on Thursday while you’re stuffing yourself with great food, wine, company, or football, take a moment to reflect. Wherever you are on the startup spectrum, you have something to be grateful for: a great idea!, a co-founder who shares your vision and passion, an incredible team, supportive investors and mentors, some consumer traction, paying customers, massive hyper growth, an exit…the list goes on.

I’m grateful for the successes of our Maven Fund I that enabled us to have our first close of Maven Fund II and to all the Maven LPs who support us and believe in our vision, our Maven Founders who work so hard every day to bring to the world their great visions, to all our Maven Mentors, friends and supporters who have helped Maven get to where we are today, and to my teammates, Sara & Robert, who are so talented at what they do and a pleasure to work with.

Do yourself a favor and take a moment to be grateful and thank the people around you who’ve helped you get to where you are. Once you’ve done that, you’ll be in a much better place to get back to work to bring to the world your vision worth fighting for.