The Coming Brick Wall in Venture Capital & Why This is Good for US Innovation

http://www.bothsidesofthetable.com/2011/06/30/the-coming-brick-wall-in-venture-capital-why-this-is-good-for-us-innovation/

by zuzzo • 15 years ago

14 3 15 years ago

bothsidesofthetable.com

maxklein• 15 years ago

To me, what the post sounds like is "act now before it's all gone!". And he's the guy selling the product.

I think the VCs realise that an end is coming. And they are trying to get their %s into as many of the important founders companies as possible, so they can continue to harvest even when their industry is no longer relevant.

Think about it: The VC industry itself is going to be a casualty of the internet. These few guys controlling huge funds to decide at their discretion which companies to invest in is the exact kind of industry that is ripe for disruption by more direct investment methods...that would be offered by the internet.

Additionally, as more and more people get rich on the internet, it will be increasingly easy for new companies to raise money from individuals and then relying on profits to grow instead of venture capital.

The post here, intentional or not, sounds like these guys realise that their age of power is coming to an end, and they want to do one final milking.

mgkimsal• 15 years ago

It does seem analogous to the record industry 20-40 years ago. You needed capital to record/produce/distribute. A record company had the capital, and the connections to market you to people who would buy the product, and had the marketing channels (radio, tv, print) in line to promote the product.

VC has the capital you need, access to a network of investors, and media connections to help promote.

This does seem like a model which will morph/fade, and possibly more quickly than we saw the record industry take its lumps. YC/Techstars/incubators and such seem to be proactively trying to change the rules of the traditional VC/investment game, but still keeping some of the better aspects.

michaelpinto• 15 years ago

It wasn't long ago when everyone was saying that the age of the tech IPO was dead and that would kill VCs. Well here it is and much to my amazement tech companies are going public again -- to me that means there's life in being a VC yet...

The Coming Brick Wall in Venture Capital & Why This is Good for US Innovation

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