I was talking to an aspiring young entrepreneur last night at a party. She's in the early stages of founding her first company and asked if I'd be willing to help her out. Her company is not in my strikezone, but I know I can help with some block and tackle basics, so I instantly said "yes". Then this morning, I just got off the phone talking to another early stage veteran who politely took my call to help me hash out a challenge at a new venture I'm working with... In 12 hours, I was on both sides of the kind of interaction that makes Silicon Valley what it is. I sometimes wish it were more explicitly acknowledged, so here's my swing at it:

Rajeev's Rule

 "When any sincere individual or group of people asks for my assistance in pursuit of their business dream, I will strive to help them in any way that I can, be it small or large."

So, who is Rajeev?

This open ethos of collaboration was perfectly embodied in the late Rajeev Motwani, Stanford professor and advisor to countless hundreds of Silicon Valley entrepreneurs, including most famously, a couple guys named Larry and Sergei. He was taken from the world far too young, but like many others, I had the opportunity to collaborate with Rajeev successfully several times over the last 10 years... I don't think I ever saw Rajeev say "no" to helping an entrepreneur: listening to their ideas, making a quick helpful introduction, meeting for coffee to hash out a problem, answering their emails with humility and promptness.

Much has been written since Rajeev's passing about his One-of-a-Kind role in Silicon Valley, and rightly so. But while his uniqueness as a historical personality is indisputable, his generous spirit has no scarcity bounds and we should all strive to emulate his ideal.

 I think its fitting to refer to this generosity amongst entrepreneurs as "Rajeev's Rule" in his honor.