Some Interesting Articles
Posted on 24 July 2009 by Chris McDemus
Here are a couple of good articles I’ve recently read:
‘Super Angels’ Shake Up Venture Capital (Business Week)- this one is centered around one of our hometown greats, Josh Kopelman (First Round Capital). He is very insightful. I believe in his current model.
Nothing Ventured (The Deal Magazine)- this one is written by two more hometown VCs, Sherrill Neff and Jessica Hou (Quaker BioVentures).
Do Web Entrepreneurs Still Need Venture Capitalists? (NY Times) - my personal answer to this question is ‘yes’ (see the article about Josh Kopelman above). Just because some entrepreneurs have chosen to make good “lifestyle” money off of developing apps for the iPhone doesn’t mean that VCs are no longer needed for web plays. I’d argue that the app development model, done on a lifestyle basis, doesn’t fit the VC model anyhow.
Investors Pay Business Plans Little Heed, Study Finds (NY Times)- I think this article over-generalizes a partial truth – that VCs don’t necessarily hang their proverbial hats on an entrepreneur’s business plan. Of course, there’s more factors than just a business plan that go into deciding whether or not to back a company. Read the article above about Josh Kopelman where he states “There’s one thing I’ve learned about entrepreneurs’ business plans . . . Every one is wrong.” Let’s face it, it’s hard to predict the future, and to create projections for a company that may have no revenue. That being said, writing a business plan is still helpful and this article gives some good examples why.
