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Web 2.0-aware Venture Capitalists

Fred Oliveira on October 19, 2005

I usually don’t plug blog posts on other blogs unless there’s a good reason, and this time I believe there is. Michael Arrington (who I’m working with on Edgeio and TechCrunch) just published a great article on the top Web 2.0 Venture Capitalists. All in all, Mike talks about some of the things and people I’ve been thinking about since I flew into the bay area early last month - how even here some people get the Web 2.0 space, and some don’t, and how that plays in the business world.

During this month, I’ve had the chance to meet most of the VCs Mike talks about, and it’s good to see how they understand Web 2.0 and share the excitement that we entrepreneurs are feeling. It is also true, at least for me, that those that don’t get the space and still want in are usually not the best people to make deals with: because if investor and investee are not on the same wavelength, the result cannot be good.

From an entrepreneur perspective, I know I would much rather prefer bootstrapping a company to getting into a partnership with an organization who doesn’t know and feel what I’m doing - hence the importance of dealing with the right people.

Let’s admit to the fact that I didn’t admire the VC world until I flew here - mostly because VC in Portugal, where I flew from and where I’m going back to soon, is either non-existant or pure crap. Some of the guys Mike talks about though actually made my view over their world change - to the point of making me consider VC as something I’d like to get involved with in the future.

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Peter Rip

“making me consider VC as something I’d like to get involved with in the future”

Fred:
To paraphrase a US colloquialism, “those who can, do, those who can’t [anymore], VC.” ;-)

You can still do. So do. Do-be-do-be-do. ;-)

Fred

Peter,

Absolutely - you bet I plan to actually build and do much more than think about VC. When I say the VC world is something that has been catching my eye lately, its because of my (slowly) growing knowledge of the business ecosystem in the bay area. When I say I’d like to get involved in something, it’s because I see some value in how I could contribute with a different view - as someone who’s used to doing.

Hope to see you this friday at the party, by the way!

Peter Rip

Unfortunately, Fred, I can’t make it. i am feeding my ‘other’ habit for the next few days (http://www.ripster.com) in Arizona, hundreds of miles away from anything digital. But I am there for Techcrunch IV - The Return of Blog!

StartupFutures.com » Blog Archive » Arrington: Top 5 Web 2.0 VCs

[...] Pingback by WeBreakStuff » Web 2.0-aware Venture Capitalists — October 19, 2005 @ 10:54 am[…] I usually don’t plug blog posts on other blogs unless there’s a good reason, and this time I believe there is. Michael Arrington (who I’m working with on Edgeio and TechCrunch) just published a great article on the top Web 2.0 Venture Capitalists. All in all, Mike talks about some of the things and people I’ve been thinking about since I flew into the bay area early last month - how even here some people get the Web 2.0 space, and some don’t, and how that plays in the business world. […] [...]

Leon Richards

Hello,

My name is Mr Leon Richards, I am currently seeking private funding for a new company I’m setting up based in the online sector.

Due to the unique concept of the website I can not disclose too much information about the project or send my business plan without a signed confidentiality agreement. Please can you let me know your company guidelines/procedures for this matter and if there are no restriction concerning this, also please can you provide me with the right representative for your company who can sign the agreement to move this situation forward.

However, there are a few things I’m willing to disclose about the project. Firstly the company is seeking £100’000 start up investment for a very unique .COM idea. £25-30’000 will be spent on the initial design development of the website. Due to the innovative complex nature of the website it will have to be developed by a experienced team of webmasters hence the high quote. £50’000 will be spent on marketing and advertising, £10’000 for working capital and £10’000 for contingency. We aim to market the business throughout the UK, Europe, United States and Japan with an intense ecommerce marketing scheme and ad campaign
The first year sales forecast for 2009 are £106’000 gross profit strictly on sales figures alone. These figures continue to climb reaching £600,000 in its third year. This forecast does not include advertising fees and web-link rates which will be a substantial income for the company. Secondly, the business plan and figures have been drawn up by a Chartered Accountant/Business Plan Consultant with many years experience. There are no direct competitors supplying this service at the moment so this company will be the market leader in this field with the potential to generate millions within 3-5 years. The system will be self automated which means very low running and maintenance costs.
Last but not least depending the source of finance the company will aim to be setup or moved to a tax haven country preferably Gibraltar which means no taxes. Taking all these points into consideration an £100’000 investment at 20% would give a return of £196’200 within 2-3 years.

If this sounds like a business opportunity which might interest you and u have no problem signing an NDA could you please contact me at lr3000@hotmail.co.uk or call me on 07533061665 so we can setup a meeting.

Thank you for your time, I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours sincerely,
Mr L Richards

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