I wrote a post earlier this month about a VC firm in Raleigh, NC that opened their doors to all comers. I took a somewhat cynical take on the whole thing saying:
I knew that VCs had a lot of extra cash these days, but this sounds like it is either desperation or an unprecedented PR stunt for a VC firm. Either way it seems to indicate what many of us have suspected — VCs have over-sold their funds.
Jason Caplain of Southern Capitol Ventures, the VC firm that had the open house, called me to tell me how it went and why they did it.
Southern Capitol Ventures is a fairly new fund started by a couple of young guys. They want to try new ways to reach entrepreneurs that might not currently see a VC firm as an option for their business.
As measured by the response to their “Calling all Entrepreneurs”, the event seems to have worked. They were able to listen to 49 deals from 10 states that they probably would not have seen otherwise. A few deals were outside their areas of expertise, but overall they believe that they got to see some interesting deals and that the entrepreneurs got some valuable feedback. No deals have been funded from this group as of today, but a handful are still being evaluated.
They are now planning to do the same thing again in Atlanta on May 17.
OK, so maybe I was a little rough on these guys in my earlier post. If their goal is to shake up the VC industry a little bit, more power to them.
What, exactly, is a ” VC” account? I have been approaching people to get funding on a small basis for a new corrosion prevention concept that can literally turn iron oxide corrosion to a a new compaond more corosion resistant than the
original coating/coated surface.
Looking for ideas…….
Thank you, edg
Univ of St Thomas ’69
Venture capitalists (VCs) amass money into funds. The monies come from institutional investors (e.g., insurance companies) and wealthy individuals. Money is put into the fund with the expectation of high returns by investing in businesses with high potential for rapid growth. Since high potential start-ups are such high risk, these funds invest in multiple deals with the hope of gaining a few that yield very high returns.