Deux VC donnent des conseils aux entrepreneurs
A l'occasion de la conférence Web 2.0, deux VC ont donné des conseils aux entrepreneurs lorsqu'ils s'agit de lever des fonds. Ils ont particulièrement insisté sur le relationnel avec leurs investisseurs, et sur l'importance de ne pas être sur-financé
VCs Give Away Secrets
Ram Shriram and Roger McNamee Dole Out Advice to Entrepreneurs at Web 2.0 Summit
There’s plenty of investment capital around for small technology start-ups these days, but that doesn’t mean that’s any easier for entrepreneurs than it ever was. In fact, the frothiness in the marketplace can be the undoing of start-ups that ought to be living on ramen noodles and watching their pennies.
So said two of the tech world’s most successful investors, interviewed Thursday on stage at the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco, California. Angel investor Ram Shriram, a founding board member of Google and 247customer.com joined Roger McNamee, founder of Elevation Partners, a private equity firm with a focus on entertainment and media. During the session, they sounded off on everything from what’s wrong with media industry to what start-ups need to grow.
The advice they doled out to the many young entrepreneurs in the audience might have seemed pat coming from those with lesser track records, but in the hands of the two speakers it was well received, to say the least. Audience members lined up at the microphone to ask questions, then followed them out into the hallway after the official talk was over.
On choosing whom to go to for investment, Mr. McNamee posed this question: “Is this the person I want to call at 2 a.m?” In other words, he said, choosing a name brand venture capital firm isn’t nearly as important as finding an investor who will be a member of an entrepreneur’s team.
Mr. Shriram, whose investments are sometimes as low as $100,000 and always under $1 million, said that in today’s climate, it’s easier than ever to get funded and the cost of failure is low.
Still, he warned entrepreneurs to avoid getting over funded—which can lead to problems successfully exiting later. “Don’t equate raising money to success,” he said, and added, “I’d rather see start-ups be scrappy, frugal, and … on a lean diet of ramen noodles.”
Mr. McNamee, who recently bought a share of Forbes in partnership with rock star Bono, had few kind words for the media and newspaper companies. He accused them of “harvesting” rather than plowing profits into building companies up. His goal with Forbes, he said, is to create a new kind of business journalism—something he admitted is still not completed.
What should entrepreneurs think about when planning a successful exit? Mr. McNamee had some unconventional thoughts. He himself never thinks about his exit, he said. He only thinks about what he can control. His firm, he said, has the structure of a private equity fund, but is actually a “transformation fund.” His goal is to take a business like Forbes, for example, and turn it into something else that serves the public good.
Both men agreed that passion and focus are the key to success. “Entrepreneurship is not for lightweights,” said Mr. McNamee in response to a questioner who complained his company was getting funded. “It’s hard.”
VCs Give Away Secrets
Ram Shriram and Roger McNamee Dole Out Advice to Entrepreneurs at Web 2.0 Summit
There’s plenty of investment capital around for small technology start-ups these days, but that doesn’t mean that’s any easier for entrepreneurs than it ever was. In fact, the frothiness in the marketplace can be the undoing of start-ups that ought to be living on ramen noodles and watching their pennies.
So said two of the tech world’s most successful investors, interviewed Thursday on stage at the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco, California. Angel investor Ram Shriram, a founding board member of Google and 247customer.com joined Roger McNamee, founder of Elevation Partners, a private equity firm with a focus on entertainment and media. During the session, they sounded off on everything from what’s wrong with media industry to what start-ups need to grow.
The advice they doled out to the many young entrepreneurs in the audience might have seemed pat coming from those with lesser track records, but in the hands of the two speakers it was well received, to say the least. Audience members lined up at the microphone to ask questions, then followed them out into the hallway after the official talk was over.
On choosing whom to go to for investment, Mr. McNamee posed this question: “Is this the person I want to call at 2 a.m?” In other words, he said, choosing a name brand venture capital firm isn’t nearly as important as finding an investor who will be a member of an entrepreneur’s team.
Mr. Shriram, whose investments are sometimes as low as $100,000 and always under $1 million, said that in today’s climate, it’s easier than ever to get funded and the cost of failure is low.
Still, he warned entrepreneurs to avoid getting over funded—which can lead to problems successfully exiting later. “Don’t equate raising money to success,” he said, and added, “I’d rather see start-ups be scrappy, frugal, and … on a lean diet of ramen noodles.”
Mr. McNamee, who recently bought a share of Forbes in partnership with rock star Bono, had few kind words for the media and newspaper companies. He accused them of “harvesting” rather than plowing profits into building companies up. His goal with Forbes, he said, is to create a new kind of business journalism—something he admitted is still not completed.
What should entrepreneurs think about when planning a successful exit? Mr. McNamee had some unconventional thoughts. He himself never thinks about his exit, he said. He only thinks about what he can control. His firm, he said, has the structure of a private equity fund, but is actually a “transformation fund.” His goal is to take a business like Forbes, for example, and turn it into something else that serves the public good.
Both men agreed that passion and focus are the key to success. “Entrepreneurship is not for lightweights,” said Mr. McNamee in response to a questioner who complained his company was getting funded. “It’s hard.”
posted by Hugues Courcier at 2:40 AM
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