Comments on: VC 2.0

By: fred wilson

fred wilson — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 00:42:54 +0000

i second the comment about saul klein. we need more people like saul and paul graham. they are democratizing VC.

By: Nitin Badjatia

Nitin Badjatia — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 13:35:49 +0000

I can’t remember who posted the idea, but someone mentioned that it would be nice to see a VC funding mechanism that was similar to Amazon’s cloud computing. I doubt that this will happen anytime soon.

By: Roberto Bonanzinga

Roberto Bonanzinga — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 07:50:16 +0000

Jeff:

I think there are many ways for VCs to operate in a more Googley/web 2.0/networked world. For example to me a big component of it is about “discovery” of ideas, technologies, business models, people etc.

Ciao
Roberto

By: alexschmidt

alexschmidt — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 01:39:05 +0000

the VC world is a little like the art world, or maybe hollywood, in its insularity and (often) narrow mindedness. but while openness and democracy are great, i think i’ll miss having easy targets like these to piss on. don’t get rid of all the bad guys, jeff.

By: Charlie

Charlie — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 01:08:02 +0000

VC’s should start helping companies be successful even BEFORE they make an investment. Where are the VCs trying to help Path 101 make the connections it needs so that we’re venture worthy when the time comes? Hmm… I need to write a post about this.

By: Jim Goodlett

Jim Goodlett — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 13:16:58 +0000

http://www.thefunded.com

By: Dorian Benkoil

Dorian Benkoil — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 11:54:15 +0000

How about micro-payment VCs. Well, not micro- really. But VCs that aggregate from a large number of individuals investing in small amounts, and mixing their expertise with the wisdom of that crowd to decide how to invest the $$$. They could ask their small investors, “Should we do A or B or C with this fund, etc.”.

Also, more transparency means better quality of investing, learning from the people receiving the money — more ability to understand what one kind of money means vs. another.

By: Matt Locke

Matt Locke — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 08:20:02 +0000

Hi Jeff,

I think Saul Klein is going a long way to ‘googlify’ VC with his SeedCamp project. Its an open call for project, and a programme of support to take early stage ideas forward in more ways than just funding. Its a fantastic project, and a model for others trying to reinvent the role of VC:

http://www.seedcamp.com/

matt

By: Bob Wyman

Bob Wyman — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 03:13:17 +0000

More “Googley”…??? Well, the astounding thing about developing code inside of Google is the amazingly robust infrastructure and a library of existing components that allows you to focus on your “unique added value” without having to spend tremendous amounts of time duplicating what others have done. In most development projects, the “unique added value” represents only a tiny portion of the entire coding effort. The story is much the same with many interpretations of what “Web 2.0″ means. The idea is you take existing components, accessed over a network, and then compose something new once you’ve added in some unique added value component.

Today, VC’s provide money, contacts, and business advice. Perhaps they should provide access to platforms and components as well. That would be more like it works inside Google.

bob wyman

By: Joey Lo

Joey Lo — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 02:32:27 +0000

I think Fred Wilson just answered this question on his post:

http://avc.blogs.com/a_vc/2008/06/how-best-to-be.html

“…I’ll have qik, twitter, flickr, tumblr, and a host of other services…”

He really is a “social media monster.”

Aside from VCs engaging in social media, I find VenCorps’ crowd-sourcing VC funding move very interesting:

http://www.webware.com/8301-1_109-9959387-2.html?part=rss&tag=feed&subj=Webware