Joe Floyd, Principal at Emergence Capital Partners, compares 2014 venture capital fundraising and deployment metrics to the 2000 tech bubble.
Insight
Floyd: Multiple co-founders increase the likelihood of premature, smaller startup exits
“Now, the flip side is, and this is something that a lot of people don't think about, from an equity perspective, especially from a returns perspective, having more founders makes the outcome less attractive. It also forces people to take earlier exits, because…”
Prediction Partly held up
Floyd in 2015: BMW and Audi will catch up to Tesla
“I think what you're going to wind up having is companies like BMW and Audi are going to catch up. Tesla has kind of that one to two Your lead, and, I mean, you see it with companies, with a car like the i-eight coming out. I mean, other car companies are going…”
Insight
Floyd: Venture capital lacks concrete skills and is just connecting people
“The venture job doesn't really have a lot of concrete skills. It is a job, it's a people job. You're effectively going out, meeting people, and connecting people. Those are the two job functions you have.”
Insight
Floyd: Grads should work in banking, consulting, or big tech before VC
“Taking a job like investment banking, or strategic consulting, or working for a big tech company like Google, will provide you the foundational skills, as well as give you that first toehold of a network.”
Disclosure
Floyd: Emergence Capital primarily backs founders from Salesforce, Facebook, Google, Oracle
“If you look at the entrepreneurs that we fund here at Emergence, you know, primarily a lot of them come out of the same few companies. Salesforce, Facebook, Google, Oracle.”
Assertion Supported
Floyd: Zenefits won by offering free software monetized via insurance commissions
“And I think Zenefits would be a perfect example of that. You know, they're, they get paid from the commission through the insurance broker, so they can give their software away for free. And no one else figured that out. So they had an automatic leg up.”