Among my favorite things in life is getting to see good people win.

This is something that is all too rare in my experience. I tell people the story of sharing in the success of Art Technology Group's IPO and the pleasure it brought me -- because Joe, Jeet and team were genuinely good
people. There are (sadly) too few of these stories in my life.

As a result - it was an absolutely wonderful experience to be with Avner and Dave from (Method Ventures portfolio company) boxee earlier this week at the CES iStage event. It was something I'll remember forever.

For those of you who don't know... the iStage event was a competition put on by CEA (the organizers of CES). They solicited entries from startup companies who have a new or soon to launch consumer electronics product. From more than 200 submissions, they selected 14 finalists. boxee was one of the finalists.

These finalists were invited to Las Vegas to present to an audience (largely consisting of executives from CE companies and committee members from the various CEA committees) and a panel of expert judges. Each company had 5 minutes to present - and then something like 4 minutes to answer follow up questions from the judges. The audience could then vote on each submission.

The winner of the judges' award would be given $50k and a free, turnkey exhibit space (described as in "prime real estate") at CES. The check is a nice thing - but the CES real estate was obviously the big prize. The winner of the audience award would be given a "pod" at CES.

So... for a consumer electronics startup (like boxee) this was a very big deal.

Given this - we decided that it was vital that I be there to support boxee.

Presentations started at 10am. I sat through them all until mid-afternoon when finally boxee was to present. Dave seemed both confident and relaxed. Avner, however, was showing some stress. After watching the competition I was feeling pretty confident - but nervous none the less. There were a couple other companies that I felt could present problems for us.

Dave's presentation went really well. He explained the value proposition of boxee very well - and made it clear how truly revolutionary the product could be. The judges askes some good (and hard) questions - and Dave answered them clearly and honestly.

So I was feeling pretty good about our chances.

To be honest - however - I was having a hard time with the stress of waiting. In the end, I had to get out of the conference space and go for a walk for a while to relax. I got back about 15 minutes before the judging was to begin. The wait was agonizing.

When boxee was announced as the judges' choice Dave cheered - Avner jumped in the air and shouted like a teenage girl - and I felt that feeling I love.

The good guys had won again. The boys from boxee deserve this one.
It's a great product that we're really proud to have been a part of developing. It's a great company that we're excited to be involved in. And they're wonderful people.

I'm just glad that Method (and I) have this chance to share in their success.