20 Things You Didn’t Know About Fred Wilson
Fred Wilson is an American entrepreneur and businessman who has made his fortune in venture capitalist activities. He is also highly regarded for his entrepreneurship and his advice is sought out by others who are interested in learning about his strategies for achieving success. Mr. Wilson has become an expert on a variety of topics in business from investments to cryptocurrency. He is a leader who knows how to simplify business for the greatest degree of success and productivity. There are many who seek out his wisdom and he is one expert that every investor or entrepreneur should become familiar with. Here are 20 things that you probably didn’t know about Fred Wilson that you might find of interest.
1. He is under 60
Fred Wilson is under 60 years of age. He is still going strong in the business world and shows no signs of slowing down. He was born on August 20, 1961. He turned 58 years old in 2019. He attended school at the James I. O’Neill HighSchool and graduated with his classmates.
2. Mr. Wilson is highly educated
Fred Wilson had a strong interest in the business industry. After graduating from high school, he applied for acceptance at the prestigious MIT. He was accepted into the Mechanical Engineering undergraduate program. Wilson was successful in completing the requirements and earned his bachelor’s degree from the school. He continued his education at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, where he earned his Master’s of Business Administration degree.
3. He is a family man
In addition to being a very successful businessman and entrepreneur, Fred Wilson is also a family man. He is married to a lady who is also a very successful professional as a published author. His wife Joanne Wilson wrote the “Gotham Gal” blog. The couple has three children whom they have raised together in New York.
4. He passed his values on to his children
Mr. Wilson is a firm believer in the power and importance of education. Prior to becoming a success in the business world, he made sure that he laid a solid foundation of knowledge and skills by first pursuing his education. This is something that he has obviously passed on to his three children. Every one of them has attended Wesleyan University.
5. Fred is a generous person
Fred Wilson is also known for his philanthropy. He supports worthy causes and he also gives of his time. He is a member of the board of DonorsChoose.org, for connecting people in classrooms who have needs, and he is also involved in the Pier 40 Partnership. Mr. Wilson is also busy in his community and he advocates for his local community. He worked on the redevelopment of Union Square as well as New York City’s Madison Square, along with other initiatives.
6. He started at the bottom and worked his way to the top
When Fred Wilson began his career, it wasn’t as an executive or even as a manager. He launched his career at Euclid Partners in 1987. When he first began working at the company, it was as an associate. He served the company for 9 years and eventually became a General Partner at the firm. He left his post in 1996. Fred knows what it is to start out at the lower levels, and how to climb the ladder of success while learning from each and every experience along with way.
7. He is a brilliant entrepreneur
Mr. Wilson co-founded several different businesses throughout his career. He joined forces with Jerry Colonna in 1996 to establish Flatiron Partners, named after the famous New York City District. The company followed the dotcom bubbly with investments in several of these businesses and along the way the partners experienced their share of successful investments along with the inevitable failures. The company was shut down in 2001.
8. He’s had a variety of business partners
In 2004, Fred Wilson went in with a new partner named Brad Burnham to found Union Square Ventures. Mr. Wilson was rated as the favorite venture capitalist o 2007 by TheFunded.com, which is a tech entrepreneurs’ social networking site. Wilson hasn’t had any problem finding partners to go in with him on his business ventures because he has such an impressive track record of successes.
9. He’s led venture capital rounds for multiple businesses
There are a lot of entrepreneurs out there who are thankful to Fred Wilson for granting the funds that they’ve needed to finance new and older more established company ventures. Some of the companies that have been funded by companies that Mr. Wilson has established include PlaneOut, Return Path, Alacra, Yoyodyne, comScore Networks, Kozmo.com, Geocities, Starmedia, the VitaminShoppe.com, Standard Media International, and even the New York Times. Investments into these companies were made through Flatiron Partners prior to its shutdown in 2001.
10. Union Square Ventures has invested in some big companies
Union Square Ventures, the firm in which Wilson is part-owner has also made investments in a variety of different companies. The company leaders have shown a fondness for Web 2.0 companies and has made multiple investments in this segment of the technology industry. Some of them include Twitter, Foursquare, Kickstarter MongoDB, Zynga, Tumbler, and others.
11. He is also a very popular blogger
Fred Wilson has authored several popular blogs that have drawn in a lot of views. He has been writing about venture capital, investments, and many other topics within the financial sector that is of particular interest to investors, entrepreneurs, and others. His first writing was submitted in September of 2005, titled “Union Square Ventures.” This was followed a few months later with “Our Customer Is The Entrepreneur.” In 2006, he wrote “Early Stage Investing,” followed by another in 2013 called “Coinbase,” which was one of his most-read works. These were followed by “Funding Friday: Truth or Consequences” on December 6, 2019, “Getting Tech Into the Boroughs” on Dec 8, 2019, and Algolia, his most recent work on December 9, 2019. There has recently been a flurry of writing activity coming from his pen and his works are always well-read by an audience of his followers who are eager to learn about some of his strategies. These are just a few of is most popular blogs.
12. He is a man with a vision
Fred Wilson knows first hand that in most cases, it takes money to make money, particularly when it comes to big business or new startups. He has an understanding of how capital when properly leveraged and invested can be used to grow a business and turn it into a large and successful operation and this is one of the reasons why there are so many business people and entrepreneurs who seek his wisdom on a variety of business and investment matters.
13. He’s an authority on cryptocurrency
Mr. Wilson had the foresight to get in on Coinbase, which is a cryptocurrency marketplace. He was not only an early investor in the venture but he also served as a board member for Coinbase. He is one of the leading experts n cryptocurrency circles. His blogs on Coinbase have been among the most popular of all his writings.
14. He is also an educator
Fred Wilson has a wealth of knowledge in his head and he also has plenty of experience to go along with it. He is one of the most sought out experts and he shares his expertise with up and coming businessmen and women and entrepreneurs who are just getting started in their careers. He has appeared at the Stern School of Business which is a part of New York University as a guest lecturer on many occasions to share his wisdom and answer student questions.
15. Fred Wilson is listed on Forbes
Forbes puts together annual lists of people in the business world who have excelled in their skills and contributions to the world of business. In 2018, he was included in a very prestigious list of the highest achievers. He made it to Forbes’ Midas List: Top Tech Investors 2018 and he was listed as number 63 of all of the investors in the United States. Although he dropped off the list for 2019, it was a high form of recognition.
16. His blogs touch on detailed issues
There are some in the business world who look forward to reading Wilson’s almost daily blogs on a variety of different topics in business. Some of them go into specific details on important topics such as building and retaining a team/strategies, patent law, tech and investing space, and much more. His writing contains such detailed and useful content for so many and this is one of the reasons why he is so well-known and appreciated. He has been faithful in maintaining his blogging activity.
17. He offers good advice when things go wrong
Fred Wilson is a seasoned veteran who has experienced his share of failures along with the successes and he has learned through these experiences what to do when things go terribly wrong. When the teams are under a great deal of stress, this is when a company can truly shine if the management and leadership know what to do under the circumstances.
18. He is a risk-taker
Fred Wilson understands that risks are a necessity for growth, but it’s important to know which risks to take. This is a lot easier said than done. This is a particularly important topic for investors because any type of investment is a gamble, but some are less risky than others. he advises investors on how to find the best investments. He provides others with essential lessons on the topic of venture investing. Some of the advice that he gives for entrepreneurs and investors is to keep their vision simple and uncomplicated when they’re just starting out. It’s not so much about early revenue growth, but it is more important to focus on a market fit.
19. He’s an expert on building social networks
Another thing that Mr. Wilson knows a lot about is building social networks and making them effective. He advises entrepreneurs and founders on how to bundle other services to grow businesses, and how to use second-order networks to create more powerful businesses, and how to use them to add value for each and every single user. In the current day and age, social networks present a very powerful advertising tool when they are used in the proper manner. If you have any questions about how to use this potentially beneficial resource, he has probably already addressed them in one of his many blogs on the subject.
20. His advisement is clear, direct and to the point
Fred Wilson isn’t one to ramble. When he addresses a topic, he does so with the utmost clarity. His investment advice comes down to four simple tips that direct investors how to spend their energy and where, how much to invest in one area, how to “love their losers,” and how to exercise discipline. he offers management advice and lets leaders know upfront that growth should not always be the top objective. He reminds them that a crisis can offer a proving ground for companies that help them to grow stronger. His writings are easy to read and to digest and they are straightforward so practically anyone can understand them, but they are also profound. He helps us to realize that while sometimes it takes complicated strategies to break through to success for a company, more often, success is found in simplification and using common sense business principles. He is nothing short of brilliant when it comes to advisement on investments and other matters pertaining to business. He is one of the most respected experts in the world today, and he’s consistently turning out high-quality content in his business advisement blogs.
