Sunday, January 27, 2008

Mort's Dream Will Live On...

My company has been blessed to have Mort as key angel investor and for me as a mentor over the past few years. I sincerely wish we had more time together - he was unbelievable - an amazing person.

We met regularly for breakfast at Denny's. He had a subtle passion and fire in his eyes. Everyone recognized it as his 'sparkle.' He was always a great listener and communicator. Many times, a man of few, but guiding words. I never left a breakfast without a pearl or gem from Mort - some words of wisdom to help steer me and our mutual investment towards success.

Recently, I was pitching our company and we had twelve minutes to present. Each entrepreneur would get up in front of a large audience of angels and a few VCs with their key angel sponsor. The angel sponsor was to say an opening - a few words but they seemed to eat about 3 to 5 minutes of the entrepreneurs pitch time.

When it was our turn, Mort got up, said "I'm an angel in the breakfast club - we invested in Gary - I like him, his company and his technology - it's a smart investment" - that was it! He had a full room of applause. He gave me so much. In that event, he gave me 11 minutes and 30 seconds of our 12 minutes to pitch.

That was Mort as his best.

To Mort, this I promise, the Breakfast Club will live on and you will never be forgotten!

Sincerely,
Gary S. Miliefsky
Founder & CTO, NetClarity, Inc.

1 comment:

Dan McGuire said...

Mort was always looking to cut through the red tape to get to the heart of an investment. He insisted on one-page term sheets. He wanted to be associated with good people first, and interesting products second.