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| About Brad Feld |
| Brad Feld is currently a Managing Director at Mobius Venture Capital and has been with the firm since 1996. Prior to Mobius, Brad founded Feld Technologies, which was sold to AmeriData Technologies in 1993, where he became Chief Technology Officer. Brad currently serves on the boards of a number of private companies, including Atreus, Comergent, ePartners, FeedBurner, Gold Systems, Judy's Book, Klocwork, NewsGator, Quova, Rally Software, and StillSecure. In addition, he is on the board of The National Center for Women & Information Technology, The Community Foundation Serving Boulder County, and The Colorado Conservation Trust. Brad has previously been a member of the board of directors of the Young Entrepreneurs Organization and founded the Boston and Colorado chapters. He holds Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees in Management Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. |
Recent Article:
Questions From A Regional Federal Reserve Bank
- For more on Brad Feld visit www.feld.com
I have a friend who sits on the board of one of the regional Federal Reserve Banks who sent me the following email the other day.
The Fed Governors asked me to report on these questions at our upcoming meeting:
* Were VC firms so scared when the “new economy” bubble burst that they are now excessively cautious?
* Is there still an overhang of unused/underutilized capital remaining from that period?
* Has the lack of a “killer application” held back investment?
* How can it be in shareholders’ interests to continue to hold very large amounts of cash?
* What investments are venture capital and private equity firms making in this environment?
My response follows:
First - have you seen the NVCA stats? They are spectacular if you are looking at macro trends (which these questions seem to address.)
- Excessively cautious? No way - if anything, the early stage VC business has once again shifted into a more aggressive zone. Stage segmentation is critical to asking this question in a way that makes sense - early stage firms are very active right now.
- Overhang from the bubble? Not really - most of this has been cleaned out at this point since the overhang came from funds that were raised in 1999 and 2000 (there were very few funds raised in 2001 - 2003). Since the investment period on these funds is typically five years (sometimes extended to six) most of the overhang money has been invested.
- Killer Application? If anything, the opposite is happening. VCs are aggressively investing in Web 2.0, mobile, gaming, SaaS, open source, and consumer applications. There are plenty of investments in "technology searching for a market" and "the seventh thing that looks like X" going on. Killer apps - at least in the eyes of the early stage VC - exist everywhere.
- Shareholders Interest / Cash? I'm not sure I really understand this question. Which shareholders? Remember that most VC funds are private limited partnerships. As a result, they are not holding large amounts of cash - the cash is "committed" to them but they only draw it down as they invest it.
- What investments are VC's making? Lots. All the traditional software and Internet segments are very active. Consumer technology has had a resurgence. Enterprise software is being focused on SaaS (Software As A Service) and open source. Telecomm equipment has started to come back. Cleantech is all the rage. International investing - named China and India - are overwhelmingly popular.
My friend responded that “The Fed actually seems to know little about venture investing. I think I am the only director in the entire system with an early-stage background.” If this is true, it’s a terrifying idea.
Read this article on Brad's blog.
Questions From A Regional Federal Reserve Bank - To learn more about this author, visit Brad Feld's Website.
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