Private Equity
How awesome is it to wrap up your Monday morning GP meeting and step outside the office and relax in front of a crazy-cool Yoda water fountain? That's what Phil Sanderson gets to do. Sanderson is managing director of IDG Ventures SF. The firm, which raised $100 million for ita new fund late last year, is located in a group of buildings called the Letterman Digital Arts Center on the Presidio. The center houses not only such firms as IDG Ventures, Founders Fund, Clarium Capital and Francisco Partners, but also Lucasfilm and Industrial Light and Magic. Thus, the Yoda water statue, seen here with Sanderson posing alongside. My colleague Connie (who's on maternity leave; no baby yet) wrote in the current issue of Venture Capital Journal how Sand Hill Road in Menlo Park, Calif., may be the epicenter of the venture capital community, but San Francisco and its amenities is beginning to give the famed VC strip a run for its money.
2 min read · 19 August 2009
2 min read · 14 August 2009
We at peHUB central have noticed lately that some VCs have allowed cyber dust to collect on their blogs, as some have not posted their thoughts online in months. Has the bloom fell off the blogging rose? Has Twitter, and its 140 characters of brevity, replaced blogging? Definitely, the "aura is off the medium," says Gerry Langeler, managing director of OVP Venture Partners. But blogging hasn't gone the way of the rotary dial telephone just yet. Langeler and OVP began its blog in late June, featuring posts by Langeler and his fellow team members, as well as guest
1 min read · 12 August 2009
Last week, a couple of readers lambasted me—well, politely lambasted—for interviewing an unproven entrepreneur. I took notice. And I want you all to know I appreciate where the criticism stems from. After all, the conventional wisdom among Silicon Valley investors is that serial entrepreneurs are more backable than fledgling company founders. Most of the VCs I hear from—not all, but most—tell me they like repeat entrepreneurs. They like it when the founder has experience in the trenches, so to speak, and has proven himself or herself in the past. If this is indeed the case, I thought it would behoove me to get the perspective of one such entrepreneur. I did. His name is Diaz Nesamoney, founder of San Mateo, Calif.-based Jivox Corp., a provider of online video advertising services. Nesamoney already has two successful ventures under his belt. In 1993, he founded Informatica Corp. (NASDAQ: INFA), which raised
4 min read · 05 August 2009
2 min read · 04 August 2009
Don't let Shamoon Siddiqui's Facebook profile photo fool you. He's serious about his work. These days, Siddiqui's work is as president of PriceDrip, a Monroe Township, N.J.-based operator of an online auction site. Last week, PriceDrip raised an undisclosed amount of funding from 2G Associates, an angel investment firm located in Central New Jersey. PriceDrip says it stands apart from its competitors because prices of items for sale on its website fall as opposed to rise during the auction. This is Siddiqui's second startup. He previously launched BookSwim, a provider of an online book rental service. I call Siddiqui a cereal entrepreneur in the headline above because that's part of the tagline of Bootstrapper.com, where Siddiqui blogs about being an entrepreneur.
4 min read · 29 July 2009
At times, I've felt like Segway is too easy of a target to make fun of. The Bedford, N.H.-based company--makers of the $6,000, two-wheeled, battery-powered transportation device--was the butt of many of a joke on "Arrested Development." And I assume that the TV program will resurrect all the one-liners and sight gags if that show ever makes it to the big screen. I've seen Segways at airports and malls, and I've heard there' a growing network of Segway Polo-playing teams, but they're hardly taking over the world. The latest criticism of Segway comes from none other than Paul Graham, co-founder of the tech incubator Y Combinator. You can read his post here. I would have thought Graham would have too much on his plate to worry about Segway. Earlier this year, he relocated
1 min read · 29 July 2009
"Two words: Radio Shack." That was the tweet from ESPN reporter Bonnie Ford, who's covering the Tour de France for the sports cable network. The tweet was in response to the speculation that has been running rampant on the Twittersphere and elsewhere over what new U.S.-based sponsor seven-time TDF champion Lance Armstrong has partnered with for 2010 and beyond. Armstrong is expected to announce the U.S. sponsor on Thursday. In the meantime, I've heard several possibilities, including Twitter (Armstrong has more than 1.5 million followers on the micro-blogging site). I even read a rumor that Amazon (and by association its newly acquired VC-backed Zappos) were gonna get the nod from Armstrong.
2 min read · 23 July 2009
There's no denying the IPO window is pretty narrow for venture-backed companies, especially for those in life sciences. Of the five VC-backed IPOs last quarter (which, by the way, was the most VC-backed offerings since Q1 2008) none were in the life sciences field. But that's not a bad thing, says Mark Brooks, managing director of Scale Venture Partners. The Foster City, Calif.-based firm last year had one of the better IPOs in recent memory when portfolio company IPC Inc., a provider of information management systems to hospitals and physician groups, went public at $16 a share. IPC (Nasdaq: IPCM) closed today at $26.45 a share.
2 min read · 22 July 2009
I’ve heard a lot of people say recently that healthcare is recession-proof, and I suppose that is true. After all, people still get sick, even in a downturn, maybe more so, and they still need to go to the doc and get drugs and use other medical services. But does that mean healthcare venture capital is also recession-proof? I recently caught up with Alloy Ventures' Doug Kelly, who helped found with Palo Alto-based firm 13 years ago. Kelly and his partners are currently investing in tech and life sciences from a $368 million fund raised in 2005. Kelly, who is a trained physician, wanted to talk about what one life sciences company was doing to stimulate hair follicle growth, while I just wanted to know what that company could do for gray hair. That’s another story, however... Q: How risky is the overall sector right now? A: While there is a lot of upside if you pick the right deals, there is still considerable risk in healthcare investing. Financing/syndicate risk and lack of a clear liquidity horizon are the largest risks in this
4 min read · 16 July 2009
