Cockiness and confidence brush up against each other but are two different species. Confidence holds back the power and unleashes it at appropriate moments. Cockiness runs amok, thinking its greatness spews from each pore, flinging superlatives all over the room.

Great teams, no matter how poorly they played for the majority of the game, find ways to win. No more apparent than the (fantastic) 2014 FIFA World Cup, where games go deep into extra time only to have the favorites somehow find their way into the net.

The seed round (defined here as the larger round after friends and family and in MVP or beta stage) is debatably the most important round for your company.

It’s not about the valuation. Shocking? Shouldn’t be. The best startups are expensive — as well they should be and will always be.

Having worked at a startup out of college and invested in startups as a vc since 2002, there has never been a better time to start a company than today. At the same time, there has never been a harder time to focus on what it takes to truly build a world-class team and product.

We use the term “sideliners” for those people that love to tear down other companies and products without frankly having any credence to do so. Most often sideliners haven’t done and/or don’t want to do the hard work and sacrifice over the long term that it takes to succeed.

Many people still prefer to primarily invest in companies located within their local ecosystem. Their reasons assume that the geographic proximity of the founding team to their office enables better communication in helping build, scale and fund the company through its rounds.

You can read about everyone’s success, or you can start building yours. You can hire and spend, but if you don’t sell, then it’s only a façade. You can overpromise and underdeliver or win the hearts and trust of everyone each month with an upside.

My wife and I just got back from frolicking around LA with our four young kids for a week with, of course, stops in Disneyland and Knots Berry Farm. Interspersed between rides and bathroom stops, I was on the phone helping a handful of companies that we have funded in the Promus Ventures community raise additional capital (no medals for me, it’s my job). Some thoughts on theme parks and fundraising.

Conviction is a two-way street. Without it, investors and founding teams will not succeed, and both groups are searching for it in each other.