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Technology Stocks : Internet Capital Group Inc. (ICGE) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Tom D who wrote (207)	8/7/1999 12:30:00 AM
From: Steve Rubakh	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 4187

SFE...Comcast...GE...CPQ...DELL...IBM...T.Rowe Price...Janus...Fidelity... Red Herring? Who gives a.....!

To: Tom D who wrote (207)	8/7/1999 1:09:00 AM
From: Kaliico	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 4187

Thanks for the article, RH is right, ICGE, a terrible investment... NOT!

To: Tom D who wrote (207)	8/7/1999 11:22:00 AM
From: mact	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 4187

great...hope it tanks on monday so i can get in.

To: Tom D who wrote (207)	8/7/1999 2:35:00 PM
From: Lizzie Tudor	Respond to of 4187

Well, I'm not a big one for all the analyst conspiracy theories etc. that I hear bantered about SI all the time. Having said that, however.... This article makes essentially 2 points, one is that public VC funds are risky and public VC funds in general might not be the best partners for the portfolio companies involved, and two, the management team is inexperienced. As far as the public VC issue we have discussed it on other threads but in addition to CMGI you have Amazon, Paul Allens Vulcan, Wit Capital etc. so this phenomenon is hardly unique to ICGE, and in a rising market like this these spec investments provide the highest returns. I don't know what will happen when the mkt declines... could be an extreme negative reaction to the stock and portfolio companies, so maybe ICGE is not the best "put it under the mattress" investment out there. On the experience issue I have some real gripes with this article. Red Herring and Upside are in bed with these VC firms and based on personal experience I would say that most VC guys are no better than your average internet analyst. The established firms resent these public companies (CMGI, etc) because it removes the old boy network that they rely on to corner the market in IPOs and other sweet deals. I would say offhand probably the worst "venture capitalist" I've ever come across would be Guy Kawasaki formerly Apple, then Patterson at Accel (who thought the whole enterprise software concept was "poor" in 1991) and the list goes on and on. Of course there are some really great people like Doerr but to make some claim that experience in VC investing with an established firm out here is some sort of lead-in to success is a gross exaggeration. Having said that, proximity-wise ICGE is not in a desirable location and may not have the inside contacts which do help when you try to jump in at the earliest time with a startup. How far is the ICGE headquarters to Silicon Alley (?) in NYC anybody know? They may be able to farm that district.

To: Tom D who wrote (207)	8/8/1999 12:10:00 AM
From: Leeza Rodriguez	Respond to of 4187

The author makes some salient points about the management team.However, Tony Perkins/ Red Herring's strength has ALWAYS been more about _ the people_ , rather than the technology. Having said that, the author gets a C- for not mentioning Linkshare as one of the companies in the ICGE portfolio. Leeza Rodriguez