Jonathan Keidan

Jonathan in an entrepreneur and investor who has spent his career at the intersection of the media, technology and entertainment industries. He is the co-founder of digital media company InsideHook and the founder of Torch Capital, an early-stage consumer-focused venture fund.

As an investor and advisor, Jonathan has backed a number of New York and LA's top start-ups — including Compass, Zoc Doc, Acorns, Sweetgreen, Sir Kensington’s Condiments, Ro, Naadam, and Recess.

On his morning routine.

I generally go to bed fairly late and wake up around 8 am.

Once I’m awake, I’m on email before anything else. The second I’m up, I’m on. I find that my mind is clearest first thing in the morning, and I can drive the 10 most important things I have to respond to. 

If I don’t hit the gym in the morning, I’ll get dressed and, left to my own devices, skip breakfast. Breakfast tends to slow me down and make me feel sluggish.

Over time I learned that my body feels better this way — it’s not a new diet or keto trend that I’m trying to follow. 

This habit started when I rowed crew back in college and we had early morning practices — I’d just get up and go.

I just learned to train on an empty stomach. Once I’m up and in work mode on emails, I go straight into calls and meetings for that day.

On exercise as a meditation.

Crew is an intense sport. You have to be incredibly fit with cardio, strength, and flexibility because you're basically sprinting for long periods of time.

We had the most insane training, involving multiple sprints in rapid succession so your heart rate is really pushed.

If you translate that into my current exercise routine, it’s super high-intensity workouts over a short period of time.

The high-intensity workout takes so much focus and intensity that it serves as a form of meditation. Working out like that definitely clears the mind.

There are huge mental and physical benefits.

These days, I'll go to the gym, only for an hour max, two to three times a week in the morning.

I don't do bench presses or normal weights; it's really around high-intensity movement exercises mixed with bursts of cardio, where your heart rate’s up for the whole hour.

 I’ll combine different bodyweight movements, using lighter weights to activate multiple parts of your body, and then bursts of cardio (e.g., on the Versa climber).

The bottom line is pushing your whole body through high-intensity, variable movements for one hour which strengthens your cardio, core, flexibility, and agility at the same time.

On managing a variable schedule.

It can be pretty intense and non-stop. I'm typically in meetings all day, and if I’m not, I’m returning calls and a tsunami of emails.

One of the toughest things about being in VC (but also what makes it really fun and inspiring) is being pulled in 20 directions at all times, whether that means helping portfolio companies, catching up with LPs, checking in with my team, reviewing diligence, or driving backend fund admin processes. 

If there's a deal we're trying to close, I'm much more focused on the execution of that deal and I’ll be on the phone with lawyers, accountants, and so on.

For example, if something big has happened in the news with one of our companies, then I may have to help manage the communication strategy.

There are always fire drills that pull you out of whatever you planned for the day. There are so many different pieces to this role, my typical day is always changing.

On key traits.

The founders that we invest in generally have a number of key traits: a clear vision, extreme passion, determination and grit, and an ability to be laser-focused on what they're trying to achieve and not get lost in the noise of the process.

This, balanced with a clear mission, humility and flexibility are key. 

That means you’re self-aware enough to know what you’re doing, but not be so beholden to a plan or specific strategy, that you miss opportunities or can't see when you might need to change direction because you weren’t completely right about something. 

Finally, charisma is helpful, but it's often overrated.

While you need to be able to inspire and recruit team members and customers, we have found that charisma must be mixed with humility to go the distance.

On prioritizing high-value activities.

There are two modes: general mode and “I need to get something done” mode.

My schedule gets booked up a month in advance, but I have to be pretty ruthless when there’s something I need to get done.

So, meetings that seemed high-value two weeks ago might have to be de-prioritized to make room for something urgent.

It's almost a daily, weekly, and monthly reprioritization around what we're doing as a fund or what we're trying to get done.

It’s tough because it yields a constantly shifting schedule, but ultimately you have to get it done.

The biggest constraints are time and capacity, so you have to be ruthlessly focused on what your priorities are.

You’ve also got to be flexible and willing to move things around on a day-to-day basis to ensure that you're being proactive, rather than reactive.

On protecting time for himself.

With the same proactive approach around high-value activities, you need to literally create time for yourself.

Sundays I like to clear, and I won’t make plans for that night unless it’s very relaxed.

I also tend to work on Sundays, which is a great time to take a step back from the day-to-day with the team and think big picture. 

I also make sure to protect big blocks of time on weekends to relax, and maybe go see music, an art exhibit or make plans with friends for dinner.

During these blocks, I'll either try to do nothing and take a break or be social and spend time with friends.

Critically, this time off also has to be actively managed.

It’s so easy to commit to plans when someone work-oriented is in town and wants to grab lunch or dinner on weekends; and while it’s fun, it’s still work.

Again, I still work on the weekends, but I can condense that to a couple of hours. Outside of that, I’m keeping my time clear.

The trick is to actively manage open blocks of time, and then fill it with stuff you like, so you don’t get burned out.

On winding down before bed.

Admittedly, my sleep hygiene could be much better. I'm a night person — I focus better at night, and without distractions, I can really blow through a lot of work.

I will generally stop emails when I go back to my bedroom, but then I'm catching up on the day's news, which these days is not very conducive to sleep! 

Two things I do that help me wind down are playing guitar (I’m a recovering former musician) or reading a nonfiction book, but unfortunately, more often than not I usually wind up on my phone catching up on news and reading articles instead.

The goal is to put my phone down about an hour before I go to bed. That’s definitely one of the things I need to work on. As of now, I’m an example of what not to do.