Why One of Silicon Valley’s Savviest Investors Has Shut His Wallet
1–10 of 63 posts
Re: Why One of Silicon Valley’s Savviest Investors Has Shut His Wallet
#2 investment in internet companies at $1.4 billion was down
slightly in dollar terms in Q1 of 2012 compared to the
end of 2011
Seems to me like investors are pretty smart this time around, and are doing everything to avoid a bubble.
Re: Why One of Silicon Valley’s Savviest Investors Has Shut His Wallet
#3“When people openly mock the consumer internet space and the excesses of it, that’s when I will start investing again.”
What? people are already mocking the consumer internet space
They weren't (at least not so much) 3-4 years ago, but now? instagram just broke the levees.
Re: Why One of Silicon Valley’s Savviest Investors Has Shut His Wallet
#4“When people openly mock the consumer internet space and the excesses of it, that’s when I will start investing again.” What? people are already mocking the consumer internet space They weren't (at least not so much) 3-4 years ago, but now? instagram just broke the levees.
That was the only sentence in the article that didn't make sense to me at all. But the rest sounds quite logic to me.
When VC descend down to Angel rounds and Angels are substituted by incubators and accelerators I can completely understand that some angels take break.
Re: Why One of Silicon Valley’s Savviest Investors Has Shut His Wallet
#5All that money makes novice entrepreneurs
do funny things, Hartz says. “That relentless
competition coupled with the cash tends to
train entrepreneurs to be far more
aggressive and less focused on things like
measurable results,” Hartz says. “There are
some entrepreneurs who can and should be
aggressive, but they possess a certain type
of pattern recognition, an understanding
about what’s really lifting a business.”
The investment game has got tough. Not only do you need to gamble on an uncertain business model, now you have to compete with a growing investor population. With all the noise and vying investment dollars it is not so a bad idea to sit out and hang on to your past investments.
Unfortunately not everyone has the same portfolio as Hartz....
Re: Why One of Silicon Valley’s Savviest Investors Has Shut His Wallet
#6“When people openly mock the consumer internet space and the excesses of it, that’s when I will start investing again.” What? people are already mocking the consumer internet space They weren't (at least not so much) 3-4 years ago, but now? instagram just broke the levees.
He was probably referring to when people were saying that you couldn't make money on the consumer internet, thus not investing, thus leaving a lot of space to those who did. People now are mocking the valuations given to some comapanies, not saying that you can't make money with consumers on the internet... ;)
Re: Why One of Silicon Valley’s Savviest Investors Has Shut His Wallet
#7“When people openly mock the consumer internet space and the excesses of it, that’s when I will start investing again.” What? people are already mocking the consumer internet space They weren't (at least not so much) 3-4 years ago, but now? instagram just broke the levees.
He was probably referring to when people were saying that you couldn't make money on the consumer internet, thus not investing, thus leaving a lot of space to those who did. People now are mocking the valuations given to some comapanies, not saying that you can't make money with consumers on the internet... ;)
That makes sense!
Re: Why One of Silicon Valley’s Savviest Investors Has Shut His Wallet
#8investment in internet companies at $1.4 billion was down slightly in dollar terms in Q1 of 2012 compared to the end of 2011 To me, this is a clear sign we're not in a bubble. Investments don't slow down in a bubble, which is exactly why they're so dangerous, they just pop. Seems to me like investors are pretty smart this time around, and are doing everything to avoid a bubble.
That includes $250MM to dropbox in Q4. Imagine if they had closed in 2012 - the same statistic would show investments up like 40% or 50% quarter over quarter. It also doesn't include angels.
Re: Why One of Silicon Valley’s Savviest Investors Has Shut His Wallet
#9“Everyone is competing for the same people, going after the same real estate, the same support services,” Hartz says. “The natural resources of the startup world are getting scarcer and scarcer, and the cost is getting higher and higher. It’s all an outgrowth of an abundance of capital.”
And largely still doing this in just a few square miles in California. Are investors so emotionally tied to one geographic area that long-term investing in other areas of the US is strictly verboten? Techstars and other programs should be demonstrating there's 'natural resources' outside of California, no?
Re: Why One of Silicon Valley’s Savviest Investors Has Shut His Wallet
#10It makes a lot of logical sense - the demand for startups is higher than the supply, and that's driving costs up. Better to buy low and sell high than buy high and hope for higher.