There has been much discussion over the last several years lamenting the state of the IPO market and the trauma of taking a company public. The prevailing wisdom is that the cost of going public (SarbOx, etc) and the unattractiveness of the market are forcing companies to sell out. It is a sad story but only partially true. (more…)
September 29, 2009
Why M&A Will Lead the Way
September 10, 2009
August 28, 2009
Puttin’ on the Hits (Part 2): The Implications of Hit Centric Investing for VC Fund Performance
In Part 1 of this post, I agreed with Jack Myers’ opinion that a hit-centric mentality continues to pervade the investment activities of many venture capitalists. This hit-centric view emphasizes the identification of a tiny number of blockbuster hits at the expense of underwriting large numbers of high-risk ventures that fail. It is a perspective that VC Peter Rip has referred to as “fund twenty, pray for two.” The view emerged gradually among a number of VCs during the bull markets of the Roaring Eighties, and became ingrained among many, if not most, early- and multi-stage VCs during the Long Boom of the 1990s.
I believe that hit-centric venture capital is the largest elephant in the room when VCs, LPs and industry analysts ask the question: is the VC model broken? (more…)
June 24, 2009
Puttin’ on the Hits (Part 1): Has Venture Capital Become a Hit Factory?
A few years ago, even before the wheels had come off the tech recovery of 2004 to 2007, I was struck by some observations made by Jack Myers, Peabody award winner, Academy-award nominee and media analyst. Basically, Myers described what he saw as the growing resemblance of contemporary venture capital activity to the failed “hits system” that had long dominated the entertainment industry: (more…)
