David Bonderman Quotes

I delivered lectures, and I was also a consultant for international companies in finance, both private equity and big venture capital funds.

I wanted to be a venture capitalist and join Sequoia Capital. They've financed and helped built some really special and enormously successful companies, including Google, Yahoo, Paypal, YouTube, Cisco, Oracle, Apple, and also Zappos.

I think one of the key differentiators I bring to the table as a venture capitalist is a solid understanding of the public markets and how they operate.

Private equity has been the purview of super wealthy individuals and institutions.

Big banks have long had private equity divisions that put up capital for deals too complex or risky for individual shareholders to finance.

VCs like acquisitions as much as IPOs because the acquiring companies often can rationalize paying large multiples over the current valuation of the startup.

Private equity is a science project for many, many years, and when you have a science project, it leaves the human beings as a secondary fact.

Generally, you want to raise capital either when you have to or when it's really easy. If the company desperately needs money, and they can't figure out any other way, then they need to raise money. Or if someone's offering you easy money on good terms, you should take it because you can use it for good things.

If private-equity firms are as good at remaking companies as they claim, they don't need tax loopholes to make money.

Private equity does pay very well, and my counterparts, guys that I grew up with who are still working at a number of firms, all make a lot of money.

I've probably done more venture capital deals and expansion financings than I have done private equity deals. But both are the same. Private equity companies have also built jobs.

I've been a customer of the top venture capital firms, so I know exactly what they do and don't do.

As I became a venture capitalist, it's almost like I went to the dark side for a while.

If I were to leave and raise a venture fund, I would have to find 10 or 100 LPs. They would all give me a bunch of money, and I would take a percentage of that to pay myself. They would expect me to invest that over the next three years, and they want that money back in seven or eight years.

Private equity helps produce strong companies, promotes innovation and spurs job growth.

How do you make money? Spinoffs, split-ups, liquidations, mergers and acquisitions.

STG is a combination of a holding company and a private equity model.

I wanted a CFO with public company experience; I needed an HR department, new office space, and a board which could help me grow the business. Insight, the private equity firm I chose, helped me with all that.

I have either run private equity funded companies or been a partner in a private equity fund since 1982. I've had a front row view of the vital role private equity continues to play in building and keeping American businesses competitive in the global economy.

I learned about M&A and how to value assets and work with investment bankers.

There is a difference between being a venture capitalist and a vulture capitalist

Blackstone is a major client of many of the largest banks around the world.

I wish more LPs would blog to help VCs and entrepreneurs understand them better.

Goldman Sachs isn't the firm it once was when I worked for it, but it's still one of the building blocks of our capitalist society.

The deal machinations many companies put themselves through, while certainly a bonanza for investment bankers, can confound the typical investor.