The rise of the next generation Venture Capitalist!

My friend and co-investor — also board member of Avastu and a tremendously talented entrepreneur — has written a very telling article. We both have been in talks with several VCs and the investor community. Our conclusion is the same as what Andreessen must have drawn: The VCs are either too lazy and looking for established markets [geez, what kind of a VC are you?] OR ones blindly talking to loads of folks are drawing blanks a number of times [read: Not a VC but just idea hunter --I've had enough and haven't felt the needd to share my ideas Or those of my closest entrepreneur friends with them].

Deal is pretty simple: As a VC you might want to come up with your resume soon and talk about your own track record.

Although the venture world is thought of as the bastion of risk-taking, the truth is many of them are more conservative than you may think; they wait for markets to emerge first (and be proven out by others), then jump on them quickly — the “fast follower” approach. Again, this strategy worked much better with longer technology generations. But it’s quickly hitting the skids with today’s rate-of-change. This fairly recent phenomena is pushing many VCs to move up into later-stage financing. Why? If you think about it, funding later-stage startups in proven markets is the same thing as going back in time — back to startups attacking previous and longer duration technology generations. Rather than adapt their models to new circumstances, they’re chasing history. Good luck. At the top of the heap, are other types of funds (hedge funds, private equity, etc) pushing down the financing stack. The early stages funding void left by VCs moving up, is being filled by super-angels and angel syndicates on the bottom. This whole picture is going to get ugly.

Read more here

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