VCs? We Still Need Those?

from the so-they-say dept

I'm at the DEMO conference in Scottsdale today and tomorrow and since there's plenty of good coverage out there in the press and in blogs, it doesn't seem worth rehashing what everyone's been talking about. The one thing that seems the most interesting to me, however, is the fact that, even while VCs are handing out ridiculous sums of money to certain companies, a good number of the companies presenting at the conference are all bootstrapped to this stage. While it's likely that some of them will score large buckets of cash from the VCs who seem to be hiding under every other table here (seriously, you can't swing your name badge around without clocking a VC in the head -- I tried), it's good to see at least some startups realize that starting up a company doesn't mean "get VC first." Of course, this may have been out of necessity. Many of these companies were born during the past few years when trying to raise money from VCs was a complete waste of time. The question, though, is whether or not things remain this way, or if the VCs are starting to turn their attention back to earlier stage companies again?
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  1. identicon
    dorpus, 14 Feb 2005 @ 7:56pm

    The quick buck

    Many a promising biotech company has failed, because squeamish VCs refused to fund them long-term. The notion of spending several years to develop a profitable product goes against the grain of our culture. Combined with Christian sensibilities against genetic engineering, we seem to be at a cultural disadvantage against East Asian cultures, which have fewer prohibitions against genetic engineering, and don't mind spending many years to build a profitable product.

    Biotech companies are increasing their share of high-tech activity, while the computer industry is maturing, and perhaps will take longer to build new products. Is the culture ready for a change?

    link to this | view in thread ]

  2. identicon
    Tim, 14 Feb 2005 @ 11:57pm

    No Subject Given

    Hobnobbing with VC's at DEMO now, Mike? Trying to smash them with your badge? I see you have moved up in the world :-)

    Hope you are having fun.

    link to this | view in thread ]


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