3.7
4.0 
4.7 
4.3 
4.0 True Value Add
Fund: Alsop Louie Partners
Posted by BitPirate on 2008-04-01
In my experience most VC's are lemings. They look around at what the other guys are doing and as soon as they see the heard jumping on a hot category, they follow suit. In truth few VC's have much operational experience and very few were ever entreprenuers. Therefore their ability to *really* add value is limited to their strategic thinking and ability to reprocess accumulated wisdom from the rest of the herd.
These guys are different. And I would argue, you have to be different to do early stage deals. Early stage requires a lot of experience, a visceral understanding of how tech is evolving and a strong intuition, a good 'gut'. These guys have it.
Gilman has a fast brain that is always firing. He is super creative and tirelessly works with his companies on getting the right formulation and positioning. Stuart is exceptionally grounded, pragmatic, not prone to hyperbole and one of the most connected people on this side of the Galaxy.
This fund is only a year or so old. They've made some outstanding investments, that haven't filtered into the public sphere yet. I'm certain that these guys will be seen as one of 3 top seed funds to secure. Their add a LOT of value on top of their money. And last, but certainly NOT least, they are VERY ethical guys that are very enterprenuer friendly. They don't take advantage of their power by ladening start-ups with onerous terms.
These guys are about as good as it gets.
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