"I think what people need to realize is that venture money is quite useful in enabling certain types of businesses. The problem is when people (very often Silicon Valley people) get into the mindset that raising venture capital is an end goal in itself, rather than looking at the overall business and seeing if it even needs venture money. During the dot com bubble, there was a time when people looked at venture capital like revenue — the more you raised, the better you were doing, rather than recognizing that it really meant you just had a bigger hole to dig yourself out of. However, in some cases, where a company really does need investment capital to take a business to the next level, smart venture money can be a great help. The nice thing today is that more and more businesses can be started, built and can scale without that need. That doesn’t mean that there’s anything wrong with venture capital. In fact, it’s better if it’s easier to build businesses. But that also doesn’t mean that VC is somehow bad or isn’t really a key part in accelerating certain innovative businesses. Venture capital is a part of the ecosystem, and that’s a good thing. There are times when people give it too much credit, and there are other times when it doesn’t get enough credit, but the real trick is just in understanding where and when it makes sense."
22
Sep
