Not All VCs Are Created Equal
Five leading venture capitalists explain that even in today's tough economy, entrepreneurs should search for the 'smart money.' Facilitator: Howard Anderson, founding partner and senior managing director of YankeeTek Ventures of Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Participants: Scott Lawin, a founding member and COO of GSVentures in New York City; Vernon Lobo, managing director of Mosaic Venture Partners in Toronto; Craig London, vice president and general manager of Safeguard Scientifics in Palo Alto, California; and Russell Siegelman, general partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & ; Byers in Menlo Park, California.
Raising capital for new ventures may have suffered a setback when the dot-com bubble burst, but that has not impeded the flow of bright ideas that cry out for funding. A panel of venture-capital experts recently met at MIT -- arguably innovation headquarters of the world -- to discuss venture capital today and to answer questions from an audience of inventors, entrepreneurs and others. The panel discussion offers practical insights not only into what entrepreneurs should look for in a VC firm, but also what venture capitalists seek from startups.