i like her 5th point the best
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Cipto HANDOYO <cipto.2005@economics.smu.edu.sg>
Date: Mon, 12 Oct 2009 16:21:28 +0800
Subject: Five Qualities Venture Capital Firms Look For in Startups
To: Yinglan Tan <yinglantan@stanfordalumni.org>
Five Qualities Venture Capital Firms Look For in Startups
BY KIT EATON <http://www.fastcompany.com/user/kit-eaton> Fri Oct 9, 2009
at 1:14 PM
Venture Capital is a term oft-bandied about, but sometimes it's a
mysterious process. Speaking at Stanford University, Beth Seidenberg of
VC firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers tried to clear up a aspect:
Whether a startup is worthy.
Check out the extract from her lecture--it's extremely easy to digest:
Seidenberg narrows the hunt down to five key criteria that need to be
met before KPCB will consider funding a startup:
* A-plus Leadership
* Large, Fast-growing, Under-served Market
* Reasonable Financings
* Sense of Urgency
* Missionaries not Mercenaries
The key feature is strong leadership--it's absolutely vital as far as
KPCB is concerned and this makes good sense: Start-ups are often
relatively small enterprises, with short management chains and they'll
face significant challenges on a day-to-day basis. Good leadership is
key to surviving these.
The remaining criteria also make pretty good sense, which is satisfying:
Entrepreneurs have to be sensible about the value of their operation,
keen to drive the team to success on a short scale, and more concerned
with achieving a successful business than driving for high profits. The
particulars of the KPCB criteria probably aren't a good match for other
VC firms--for example their interest in high tech-risk companies, versus
low tech-risk companies that try to achieve large markets--but the
overall common sense in here is hard to argue with. That's probably
unsurprising since KPCB has Colin Powel, Al Gore
<http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/117/features-gore.html> and Sun
Microsystems' John Gage as partners.
It's good food for thought, especially if your nascent company is about
to chase some of that VC money presumed to have recently dried up
<http://www.fastcompany.com/blog/chris-dannen/techwatch/venture-capital-
slows-trickle> . It may just be flowing again.
[via VentureBeat
<http://entrepreneur.venturebeat.com/2009/10/09/does-your-company-really
-deserve-vc-money/> ]
http://www.fastcompany.com/blog/kit-eaton/technomix/five-things-vc-needs
-know-funding-your-startup
<http://entrepreneur.venturebeat.com/2009/10/09/does-your-company-really
-deserve-vc-money/>
--
- Tan Yinglan
The Way of the VC: Having Top Venture Capitalists on Your Board (On Amazon)
http://tinyurl.com/wayofthevc
