Okay, so what is an EIR?

Okay, so after Ambient, I've started a new job... I'm an EIR (entrepreneur in residence) at Celtic House (the VC that backed us at Ambient).

I've been asked a few times just what an EIR is, what we're supposed to be doing, why it's a great gig, etc. I also remember frantically searching for blogs by other EIR's before I joined, so I could know what I should expect. So with that as my motivation...

VC's are all about finding deals, and teams. EIR's are generally entrepreneurs that a VC knows and trusts, and wants to bring on for a few reasons:

They've got

• experience or insight in a space a VC's interested in
• a view to deals that VC might not typically see
• they've got a network that's different (and useful to) that VC

At the end of a stint as an EIR, "success" is typically the EIR either going and starting a new company, or jumping into one of the companies that pitches them. So, as an example, if a company that was in a particular space that an EIR had real domain expertise in, and took a liking to, that EIR might end up (as part of the funding process) taking a role in that company. In my case, I'm focusing most of my time on building something new, and assembling the best team I possibly can to make the vision real. It's a funny job where the goal is to be out of it in a few months (6-12 months seems pretty typical, and if my informal sample is any indication, most EIR's are dying to get back into operational roles pretty quickly anyway).

Regardless of how the EIR stint ends, the hope is that all along the way, the EIR's providing value by helping look at deals, and provide insight on whatever space they've got an interest in. My contract, for example, mentions some of my responsibilities as "will review the business plans as provided by the partners", "will provide his insights and his thoughts on opportunities in the spaces of", and "will perform due diligence on opportunities as requested by the partners".

So being an EIR is basically one of these amazing gig's where your job is to meet fantastically smart people (other entrepreneurs, VCs, technologists, and others) while you basically figure out to do next.

Okay... so what do you owe the VC for this? From another quick and informal sample of other EIR's, there's actually a pretty basic moral commitment: the VC gets first look at the deal, whether it's a new company the EIR's building, or one that they're looking into. Of course, this is more than fair, given that you'd never take an EIR gig at a VC where you didn't want them to invest in your next company! ("Thanks Captain Obvious," I can hear someone mutter.)

Okay, so the last bit, before this post gets really unruly: what's a typical day-in-the-life? I think this happens in stages:

1. Learning/exploring
2. Ideation
3. Creation

And the more I think about these bits, the more I think each needs it's own post :-) So more on that soon.