SM: What are your key investments and the rationale behind making those investments. This will help entrepreneurs understand how you process deals. Do you fund capital-intensive deals? RG: Only if they can demonstrate a good ROI. SM:Do you fund built-to-flip deals? RG: Build to flip is usually not a type we focus on. SM: Do
I had invited Mark Sherman at Battery Ventures to contribute his perspective to the series. Mark has responded via Ramneek Gupta, who wants to focus this interview on investment as it pertains to India, specifically. Battery has a major focus on India right now. SM: Please describe your background, to help entrepreneurs understand your point-of-view.
SM: Describe your ideal entrepreneur. DH: Smart, hungry, focused, yet open minded, capable of creative and analytical inspiration and coachable in those areas where they can use help. To use a phrase mentioned earlier, I like working with people who take the game very seriously and are driven to win, but who manage not to
SM: Describe, in some detail, the last deal you funded, and your rationale behind funding it. DH: I’ve made three recent investments; one new and two follow-on. The new is www.revision3.com, formed by Jay Adelson and Kevin Rose. This was exactly the type of new media play I was seeking–something hugely ambitious with existing traction
SM: What are your key investments and the rationale behind making those investments. This will help entrepreneurs understand how you process deals. DH: In truth, ‘it all depends on the deal’ is a legitimate answer here. That said, there are a few key considerations I run through in most deals. First, do I think the
As I have been having the conversations for this series, I keep asking VCs a question: which Angels do you respect? I have got many answers. One name that has kept on coming is that of Don Hutchison. So, here, I present to you, Don’s thoughts on his early-stage investment philosophy. SM: Please describe your
SM:What are your key investments and the rationale behind making those investments. This will help entrepreneurs understand how you process deals. WW: Energy markets present great opportunity for using IT to lower costs and improve operations. In the 90s there were companies — such as CellNet — that spotted this trend ahead of its time.
Warren Weiss of Foundation Capital is our next interviewee in the series. The DNA of Foundation as a firm is “Sales”. Most of the partners come from a deep enterprise sales background, and hence, they’re very focused on trying to figure out whether or not whatever you are trying to market, can be sold, and