Q&A with First Round Capital's Josh Kopelman

First Round Capital, a four-year old venture firm based in suburban Philadelphia, is so far among the most active Internet investors of 2008. It has backed 17 new startups, and is tied only with Draper Fisher Jurvetson, a much larger fund. As 2008 winds to a close, and the National Bureau of Economic Research officially declares a recession, I thought it made sense to check in Josh Kopelman, who founded First Round and whose past accomplishments include cofounding the companies Infonautics Corp., which went public in 1996, and Half.com, which sold to eBay in 2000. I wondered where he thought Internet investing might head from here, and how he plans to approach 2009. The economy is in a tailspin. Where does it make sense to invest online right now? The deals we think are the most attractive now are capital efficient and somewhat counter cyclical. Mint Software is a perfect example of a counter-recessionary business, one to which people are turning as they focus on their portfolios and saving money.