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2.4 The Roulette Wheel of VC Funding
TheFunded.com Advice
Posted by Mr. Smith on 2008-03-14
Tags: Venture Business
As a funded CEO and as a careful observer of the venture market, it looks to me like a giant game of Roulette. When a new game begins, venture capitalists throw large sums of money at start-ups in a particular industry, just like throwing chips on numbers across a Roulette table. When the wheel starts spinning and the little white ball is rolling, more and more money gets thrown across companies in the chosen industry, until the table is brimming with chips and the dealer calls "no more bets." The ball lands, bouncing around for suspense, and the winners are called. As the table is cleared and a new game starts, a new industry is chosen, sometimes related and sometimes not.
This bizarre financing phenomenon makes some sense. Flooding an industry, like social networking or Web 2.0, with money helps raise industry awareness. Invested capital gets spread around between firms in an industry through licensing and other strategic deals. Venture partners learn the ropes as industry know-how and events emerge. And, covering the entire market with investments ensures that the one big winner will be venture backed. Having that winner in a VC portfolio makes up for all of the bigtime losses that the VC has racked up over the years, too.
I wonder who kickstarts the industry selection...
(You can quote me without atrribution.)
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