Venture Hacks

More wisdom from Randy Komisar’s The Monk and the Riddle (emphasis added):
Passion
“So why were they doing this? Why was it worth their time? I am always amazed that venture capitalists don’t ask that question. Perhaps at this point everyone assumes it’s obvious: to get rich.
“Passion and drive are not the same at all. Passion pulls [...]

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The latest great quotes from the Venture Hacks Twitter feed: twitter.com/venturehacks (RSS):
Boards
“Don’t let conflicts get in the way of selecting the ideal board member.” – Fred Wilson
“Avoid ‘big names.’ For the most part, they are useless.” – Fred Wilson
“I was on the Spectra board and I think I nearly drove… the company CEO nuts with [...]

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Tom Perkins from Kleiner Perkins slaps us with knowledge in this interview with Creative Capital. Here are some choice quotes from the beating:
On Timing
“It’s always a good time to be in venture capital.”
“You can’t look at the stock market and decide whether or not to invest in a startup.”
“The growth of technology has been [...]

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“Nearly 100% of the investors interviewed believe that they add value to their portfolio companies. Unfortunately… only 45% of the entrepreneurs interviewed indicated that they believe that was the case.”
— Matthew Louie and Cali Tran,
Harvard M.B.A. Students

Every investor claims to add value. But how much value do they really add? In particular, how well do [...]

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Q: Everybody is telling us to raise smart money. What’s the difference between smart money and dumb money?
“The best assumption to make is that your VC’s primary value add is the cash they are investing. Then you’ll always be surprised on the upside.”
— Marc Andreessen
Summary: Smart money is money plus the promise of help that’s [...]

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