As a serial entrepreneur, angel investor and public company CEO, nothing irks me more than when a startup founder talks about wanting to cash in with an initial public offering.
Anybody who runs is a VC. Anybody who stands still is a well-disciplined VC.
I don't do a ton of deals a year, and I really like working with startups - it's the only way I can invest. It fits my ADD brain.
One thing I'd like to do is angel investing in small companies. That's what's exciting, and if you are lucky to have a bit of money, you can take those risks.
The more angels we have in Silicon Valley, the better. We are funding innovation. We are funding the next Facebook, Google, and Twitter.
When I first started as an angel investor, I was excited to start investing in startups - but I didn't know much. I couldn't tell the good ones from the bad; I didn't understand all these venture capital terms, so I would invest somewhat blindly.
Venture capital is a dynamic and people-driven business.
I'm a very active angel investor in a number of different companies.
As an investor in small companies, I don't care how rich Microsoft is. I care about what my opportunities are.
While I'm a venture capitalist who invests in early-stage tech companies, I often feel like a professional emailer and conference call maker. I try to spend most of my time doing whatever the companies we are investors in need me to do.
I'm one of the first invention capitalists.
If someone who's passed on your company as an investor offers you to make introductions, that's kryptonite. Don't touch that.
I'd been a great angel investor, but professional venture capital was clearly not the right thing for me.
Seed investing is the status symbol of Silicon Valley. Most people don't want Ferraris, they want a winning seed investment.
I think you need to have a very strong angel community that is committed to mentoring up-and-coming entrepreneurs.
I remember looking up to most any venture capitalist as someone who could make my little company happen with a single million-dollar check.
It's almost a cliche that great Silicon Valley entrepreneurs don't go sit on a beach when they make a lot of money; they get back to work building another company or at least investing in other people's companies.
The myth of the peachfuzz billionaire has emerged. This new Horatio Alger typically launches his first start-up in middle school, and somewhere between the campus computer-science lab and a move to Palo Alto hacks up a Web site where users provide fun or useful content.
I started angel investing because I like hanging out with entrepreneurs.
I had done six or eight traditional angel investments and basically just thought it sucked.
We have a mentoring and angel investing programme. We are also talking to the government to help create a VC industry.
Nominally, I stated a company. Practically, it's a venture capital firm that allows me to be an investor in early stage companies.
