Charlie Paparelli pointed me to this New York Times article which has two quotes that I very much agree with. First Vinod Khosla says:
Mr. Khosla said his firm operates like old-fashioned venture capitalists, “where people took technical risks and really helped entrepreneurs, as opposed to today, when a lot of the venture capitalists are financial investors, more spreadsheets than technology.”
and then
“That’s what Pierre is uniquely equipped to do, because he has run operations and founded a company,” he said. “He understands what entrepreneurs are dealing with, can help them with technical problems and engage at a level that an M.B.A. can’t,” Mr. Khosla said.
This is exaclty what we are trying to do with Shotput Ventures. We had a great kick off evening last night and I’m really looking forward to the first class starting this summer.
Sanjay,
I very much agree. Lack of these skills is a very widespread problem, not only in venture capital, but also in private equity firms serving more established companies. It’s amazing how many MBAs whose previous experience is limited to Wall Street are at these firms touting their operating experience.
Reminds me of a few things mentioned in Paul Graham’s Essay, “Why Move to a Startup Hub”.
“In fact, the quality of the investors may be the main advantage of startup hubs. Silicon Valley investors are noticeably more aggressive than Boston ones. Over and over, I’ve seen startups we’ve funded snatched by west coast investors out from under the noses of Boston investors who saw them first but acted too slowly….”
http://www.paulgraham.com/startuphubs.html
This may also interest you:
http://www.paulgraham.com/maybe.html
Not sure if you’ve read those, but I find you may like the information in them :-)
Hopefully Shotput Venture’s endeavors will be the beginning of Atlanta’s future as a consistent and stable startup hub.