Courtesy Fred Wilson, this chart and the data below (via Mark Suster)…
…using the math I laid out yesterday (roughly 1,000 startups funded each year by VCs), this means that on average between 1% and 3% of venture funded startups get to an IPO.
To recap, 1-3% get to an IPO and 5-10% get to an M&A exit over $100mm. So 85-95% of all venture backed startups will either fail or exit below $100mm.
…in which I break my self-imposed period of silence. I have a very good reason. I am very pleased and excited to now be formally involved in an extraordinary enterprise in India: Vindhya. Vindhya is extraordinary because:
…almost 95% of its staff of 200 youngsters comprises differently-abled and physically challenged youngsters
Read more about them in this post on my personal blog...and wish us luck in our bold plans for the future.
Chanced upon this great post by Matt Blumberg on “10 Characteristics of Great Investors“.
Should be read by ALL investors, I think.
I am listing my favourite five of the ten characteristics below:
Thanks Matt.
Just back from an exhausting and intense 10-day visit to India, part of which was taken up by the Capvent VC/PE Conference in Goa.
I shared a panel on “New Media” with Rajesh Sawhney of Reliance Entertainment and Harel Beit-On of Viola Private Equity…and talked briefly about Enqii and an Indian start-up that I am very enthused about (it takes Out-of-Home advertising to a new level – leveraging the ubiquitous cycle rickshaws that you see across large parts of India – more on them later)
Interesting conversations on the sidelines and during the panels…but the “chill” in Private Equity was unmistakable – even as Goa seared at 33 degrees…
India seems to be holding up better though…and the sentiment is mildly optimistic…not least because of a rebounding stock market that has jumped 40% in the last three months - as it recovers from its multi-year lows.
I also concluded my latest personal investment – in an Indian start-up which I believe is very attractively positioned in the education sector in India. It is called Elements Akademia…Check them out.
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Somewhat related posts:
I was here…talking to a bunch of bright people and listening to some great ideas…
Could anything have been more exciting?!
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Saw this headline when I woke up today morning:
GPs ‘paid more for working less’
Of course it was referring to some lesser mortals*…
Although some of the points made in the news-story appear to have an eerie similarity…e.g.:
…It also pointed out that pay for…partners had shot up by 58%……although much smaller rises had been seen for (put your own words here)…
…This happened over a period when GPs started working fewer hours – 36.3 a week compared to 43.1 in the 1990s – and productivity fell…
…Much of the criticism in this report is based on an out-of-date understanding of the current situation…
But here is some seriously sobering news, courtesy GigaOm, “…Silicon Valley Is in Trouble”
…Sequoia Capital, arguably the smartest venture capital investor in business, is sounding the alarm and asking its portfolio companies to buckle down for what could be the worst economic downturn of their relatively short lives.
…They want the companies to cut costs, to figure out way to survive and emerge at the other end of this downturn, which could last years. The speakers went through each functional area of the business and told the companies how to cut costs.
…Folks this is bad news for Silicon Valley, which has been living in a bubble, assuming that it is going to weather the global economic storm without being impacted. Sequoia had a similar meeting back before the last bubble unraveled. We know how that turned out.
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* With tongue-firmly-in-cheek
