THE AMERICAN OBSESSION WITH VENTURE CAPITAL
One of the unfortunate aftereffects of the dot-com boom has been that by and large, the business community now equates business start-ups with venture capital investment. As noted earlier, this has led to the myth that the only “real” start-ups are funded by venture capital. In fact, venture capitalists themselves are quick to point out that they support only very specific types of investments, and that the vast majority of start-ups are and should be financed through alternative methods. This chapter explains why a go-it-alone business and a business funded by venture capital are, in essence, at opposite ends of the spectrum of entrepreneurial activity.
THE PRIORITIES OF A VENTURE CAPITAL FIRM Since the mid-1980s, Stewart Alsop has been one of the nation’s most respected technology industry commentators and participants. Among his many roles in the industry, Alsop served as editor in chief of InfoWorld. After joining the venture capital firm of New Enterprise Associates, where he was a general partner, he continued for several years to provide insightful commentary through a regular column in Fortune magazine. In a detailed interview for this book, Alsop provided a candid view of how the venture capital industry works.
