Meet Glenn Frommer | Venture Capitalist and Philanthropist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Glenn Frommer and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Glenn, can you tell us about a book that has had a meaningful impact on you?
I’ve always had a voracious appetite for business books, and have read hundreds of books on business strategy, planning, execution, product development, marketing, and leadership. The best book I have ever read – and one that I still reference both inside and outside of business to this day – was “Good to Great”, by Jim Collins. Although the book was originally published more than 20 years ago, the lessons that Jim and his team at Harvard extracted from studying the small number of companies that made the transition from being ‘solid’ companies to becoming ‘sustainably great’ companies still apply today. The advice to get the right people onto the right seats of the bus, to find the company’s true strengths and leverage them without diluting efforts into areas where you don’t have a clear advantage, the concept of always facing the brutal facts and never burying bad or unfavorable news or results, and his advice on how to move from the ‘doom loop’ of negative momentum to the ‘flywheel’ of positive momentum are all important foundational elements of every great business. I’ve applied these concepts at every stage of my career and, on the heels of putting together great teams, have been able to deliver stellar results for more than 20 years of running large businesses.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I founded the RideForPKD – a 5,500-mile bike ride across the USA to raise money for the research program of the PKD Foundation – in 2020 in response to both my diagnosis of having PKD (Polycystic Kidney Disease) and becoming aware that, due to budget restrictions, only a small fraction of promising research proposals into this incurable disease gets funded. While I was proud to financially support the PKD Foundation’s programs by making my own charitable donations, I leaned on my background in Private Equity and Venture Capital to leverage my own investments of time and money into a significant ROI on behalf of the PKD Foundation. So instead of donating a dollar to the Foundation, I invested that dollar into creating, launching, and performing this epic fund-raising journey and encouraged others to support the Ride and this cause. To date, we have raised $455,000 for the research fund and hope to achieve our goal of $640k in donations before the end of 2022. Our community of 600,000 Americans currently afflicted with PKD thanks our supporters and the researchers who are working tirelessly to provide hope for us all that one day we can #endPKD. Please visit www.rideforpkd.org to support our cause.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
The great outdoors is where I’d focus 100% of our time. Regardless of the season, we’d travel the state looking for great outdoor adventures. In the winter we’d ski the Back Bowls of Vail, snowmobile at Piney Lake, and dine in the Vail Village’s best restaurants. In the summer, we’d drive to Telluride and Aspen, walk the streets and shops, and enjoy the breathtaking beauty during daily hikes. And we’d top it off with a great live show at Red Rocks or any of the 100’s of other great music venues in the city.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
As the old saying goes, ‘behind every great man is an even greater woman’, and in my case, nothing could be more true. My wife Beth has been the single biggest reason for my success in business and in life. Her patience, compassion, adventurous spirit, ‘can do’ approach, and willingness to accept ‘my causes’ as ‘our causes’ have allowed me to pursue great opportunities and regularly change direction over our nearly 40 years together. She’s helped me become a better-rounded individual by nurturing characteristics that I don’t innately possess – like empathy and patience – while being the perfect partner to manage our lives in areas where I don’t have the right skill set or enough bandwidth. It’s been a true partnership in every sense of the word, and I owe my individual successes to her unwavering support.

Website: www.rideforpkd.org

Instagram: rideforpkd2022

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/glennfrommer/

Twitter: RideForPKD2022

Facebook: RideForPKD

Youtube: RideForPKD