Jim Clark: "VCs Take Too Much Ownership for What They Bring to the Business"
As many readers already know, billionaire Jim Clark pretty much gave the Valley the heave-ho after cofounding Silicon Graphics, Netscape, MyCFO and some other companies during the go-go dot.com years a decade ago. Clark first headed to Florida to develop luxury condos in Miami, a move that he "wouldn't do again." He now spends a fair amount of his time in Sydney, Australia, where among his newest properties is an $8 milliion waterfront apartment that he and his Australian supermodel wife Kristy Hinze closed on this week, according to the Sydney Morning Herald. Recently, Clark, who'd returned to the Valley to accept an award, emailed with the San Jose Mercury News about that period of his life, as well as what's right and not so right with the tech world today. He told reporter Scott Duke Harris that among the reasons he left California in 1999 was that he'd "tired of starting companies," as well as that he "didn't want to be a conventional venture capitalist because I have always held that occupation in low regard, even though some of my very good friends are VCs." The reason, he said: "They take too much ownership for what they bring to the business."
