The European Investment Fund, operating as the specialty risk-capital arm of the European Investment Bank and the European Commission publishes the Private Equity and Venture Capital investments since inception of the Fund-of-funds in 1997, which can act as an interesting barometer for the confidence of European public institutions in the Private Equity asset class.

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Tags: Europe, Venture Capital, Private Equity, EIF, EIB, European Commission, Fund-of-funds, Funds

Last week I dropped a little “bomb” at a conference for Limited Partners where Pension funds and Fund-of-funds struggled to answer a very simple question I asked them. It was surprising to me how seemingly anemic these “masters” of Venture Capital asset allocation appear to be to the rudimentary deployment of risk...

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Tags: Limited Partners, CalPERS, CalSTRS, SocialEconomicValue, Subprime, HamiltonLane, Invesco, BairdCapital, VC, NYCERS, HSBC, Venture, PensionFunds, Fund-of-funds, CentinelaPartners, IRR, CIO

Without that marketplace transparency, Venture Capital will continue to slide down the sub-prime investment slope it has been on the last 10, if not 20 years, leaving a growing opportunity of disruptive innovation under-financed and starving. Unchanged, the deployment of LP dollars will continue to fragment and yield even lower public value and trust than it has produced over the last 10 years...

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Tags: Venture, Limited Partners, VC, Marketplace, Meritocracy, Subprime, Apple

It is okay to deploy your money as an LP through GPs as the arbiter, but just like many Hollywood stars have found out, if you are not signing your own checks, know what they are being spent on and how - don't be surprised your money will be taken for a ride...

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Tags: Limited Partners, VC, Venture, Funds, PPM, Subprime

The principles of Albert Einstein should be held against the selection process for General Partners at a Venture Capital fund. Let’s see how they do...

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Tags: Marketplace, Meritocracy, Einstein, Capitalism, Long Tail, Democracy

A product manager at the GAP, a financial analyst in Hong Kong, a VP of Marketing in a large hardware company, a CEO at an IT consulting company, a large-cap consultant at Bain - all combined with impressive ivy league education makes for nice resumes in a Venture Capitalist’s Private Placement Memorandum, but delivers no relevant credentials to lead the early stage innovation that our country depends on...

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Tags: PPM, Limited Partners, VC, Entrepreneurs, Eco-systems

Clearly fund managers are licking their wounds, in a holding pattern for some positive news on the economy and perhaps some much needed regulation with regard to transparency. Rest assured, no fund manager seems to debate the value of venture capital as an investment vehicle, it is here to stay.

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Tags: VC, Funds, Fundraising, CalPERS, PCG Asset Management, CentinelaPartners, Carlyle

The subprime investment tactics by Venture Capitalists has a damaging impact on the returns provided to Limited Partners (those who provide the funds to the Venture Capital firms, such as pension-funds, university endowments, insurance companies etc.) and on the technology asset class as a whole. Here is how:

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Tags: Subprime, Private Equity, VC, Entrepreneurs, Limited Partners, Subprime, Fundraising

I understand the need for a greener environment and its promise sounds good, albeit I think it will just redefine what we as countries fight about. Today it is oil, tomorrow it is probably about green technology and resources. In the near future, green technology will ...

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Tags: Green Tech, Innovation, Investment, Distribution, VC, Limited Partners, KPCB

My point is the following: to investors, I urge you to look at technology and no matter how old, understand how its benefits apply to a changed market. To entrepreneurs, I urge you to look at markets and adjust the innovation...

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Tags: VC, Citroen, Yahoo, Google, MSN, BMW, Entrepreneurs, Markets, Microsoft, Innovation

I couldn't help but chuckle when I read today's updated report on the Secure Content Management (SCM) market by number-cruncher industry analyst IDC. Having dealt with some of the companies in the top ten of that report, I can tell you that the numbers they report to IDC are not only incorrect but paint a picture of growth and penetration that could not be farther from the truth.

Yet, investors and entrepreneurs use this data to engage in new ventures together. Business partners base their strategic picks on it. Customers bet their careers on it. Even the suppliers (of SCM solutions) use this data to prove to their business unit managers how much progress they've made; what was the last time you got away with writing your own report card?

The problem with the IDC analysis is that it pretends to show what the size of the market is, and the operators in it, by simply adding the sum of finagled realizations. But what about the size of the total addressable market? A top down analysis of the market means nothing if it doesn't intersect with a bottoms up analysis (how applicable this technology is to the market). How many computers could be protected with SCM versus how many are? Is the sum of realizations really equal to the sum of opportunities? I don't think so. There is plenty of opportunity for SCM vendors that think different.

So, not only does the analysis of the opportunity stink, the facts are doctored too. Let's be real, Secure Content Management is a bull market with room for 130 competing vendors, sounds like no-one has cracked the code yet. Entrepreneurs should approach security from a new perspective that crosses artificial boundaries defined by the major players, let us know if you need help.

Tags: Security, Analysts, IDC, Entrepreneurs