Elroy, RE: " detailed study"
Sounds like you never worked for a startup. By ground work, I don't mean studies by a bunch of costly consultants that never stuck their finger out of an ivory tower. Like I said, am intentionally going to refrain from saying what that secret recipe ground work is.
RE: "I just don't see why the market won't solve the problem "
Basically because you've got only a handful of powerful VC firms. Since they engage in herd mentality, they act as one, and they sit on the boards of Silicon Valley firms and if the VC is micromanaging their portfolio companies rather than holding them to their numbers, you end up with a situation where an entire industry is moving in a particular direction based upon what only a handful of powerful VCs might think. Many times the market wants something else, but the VC doesn't. I could list out about a dozen company examples off the top of my head, but won't.
From the article, Accel Partners is one of the better firms. Seasoned VCs. They are well liked by communication entrepreneurs because Accel wasn't foolishly investing in eyeballs during the dotcom craze, but stayed true to technology. My friends like them a lot. They also don't throw their greenest MBAs at their portfolios, like some other brandname VC firms do. I'd be more inclined to trust they have an ability to dig deep into the details rather than giving a blind mandate.
Again, my point is: ask, think, don't just blindly follow.
Regards,
Amy J |
