NEW ENGLAND CAPITAL VENTURES

Top 10 Qualities Of A VC

1. You are a Former Entrepreneur: with a successful raise and exit and have pitched to most people on Winter St in Waltham, MA or Sandhill Road in CA. You know and understand the rules of engagement and what floats the VC boat. Yuo are either too tired or too rich or are looking for your next challenge but don't know the path yet. But you know you belong in innovating ideas and building successful companies. You have had more than 1 start-up before the age of 30.
2. You have a passion for innovation: and have an uncanny ability to filter dead weed from the super-stars. Business is in your DNA and you have subject matter expertise, experience and the network to back you up. You like ideas, especially disruptive ones and executing on them. You create something out of nothing all the time. Above all, you are a born leader and an evangelist with a vision.
3. You have an MBA from an Ivy league: Private Equity and entrepreneurship is sold to you the day you get into HBS, Sloan, Yale, Stanford, etc. These universities train next generation leaders. They don't expect you to get into a job and die there. They expect you to change the world, make a difference or at least try. There is enough buzz on campus about the VC world that you are likely to engage yourself with this domain one way or another. Sorry but till date, most non-ivy leagers have done a not so good job with this space (Babson College being an exception).
4. You are/were a CEO/CFO/CIO of a Fortune 500 Company: but are now tired of the corporate rut, want to actually bring some of your ideas to life and want to see them get to market. You also had a fat pay-check all these years and would like to continue with the same (or higher levels of compensation). You have several successes under your belt and you know most key private equity folks in the industry because your wife bakes cookies with the VC's wife or you play golf with them. You have also had several M&A deals with the VC's in the past.
5. You are brilliant in the work that you have done in the past as a scientist or a physician: and want to see some of your work in the industry take life. You are also one of those few people who understand business outside of a lab and are able to interpret profitable sustainable models from crappy ones.
6. Your father is/was a senator or a prominent angel investor: and you've been groomed to be in this space since you were a kid. You know the VC's, their family and played with their children in an overpriced private school in Massachusetts. You are 5th generation lineage and your great-great-grandfather ran the Port of Manchester, NH. You are in your Sophomore year and get a call from your father's squash buddy to "drop by" your fathers friend's office and "check out what they do".
7. You have a lot of money: and the right connections, knowledge of the space and like the start-up scene. You don't want to retire and have yet a lot to contribute to business. You also hate commercial (rather don't know "how it all works") and prefer sticking to Netjets or equivalent. Aunt Hilda the widow living on the Cape also has a lot of money but she sticks to martinis and all inclusive cruises than head up to Waltham.
8. You are/were an iBanker or a Hedge Fund Manager: and know your numbers. You are clueless about real business but will learn while on the job. You know how to get deals done at obscene valuations and you know the right people for the job. You have been in the exit play all your life.
9. You worked in a start-up: that is currently in the top 25 deals in the country and were one of their first 10 employees. You helped conceptualized many key products that we see with the start-up. You built their brand, helped raised capital in several millions and also swept the office floor. You have a sizable equity stake in that start-up and plan to exercise your options and be on the other side of the table.
10. You want to change the world: No matter who you are, what you are, whether you have done anything yet or not - there is always a start. You want to defy the odds in business and life and are willing to work as hard as it takes to make a difference. You are extremely passionate when you speak, you are articulate, when you talk - people listen, you have deep knowledge about some of your ideas and you know your market. You are Type A - aggressive, assertive and very professional. You are sophisticated in your approach and can feed VC's what they want. You have a network deck unlike any other.

posted by Janak Joshi @ 1/26/2009 03:42:00 PM