The future of venture capital and you could be waiting a while
In a recent press release Mark Heesen of the NVCA had this to say:
"The venture capital industry will evolve significantly in the next few years as the asset class responds to a Darwinian contraction resulting from the recession, the rise of innovative industry sectors such as clean technology and the continued interest in venture capital outside the United States," said Mark Heesen, president of the NVCA. "As the survey results suggest, we will see more globalization in the next decade, not only in terms of investments but also in fundraising and exits as well. Those countries that can nurture entrepreneurs and investors as well as offer attractive exit opportunities have the most to gain economically in the next decade."
This comment causes me to think back to my trip to China of a few months ago. While in Tianjin, I visited an incubator where 930 tech companies were being incubated. I don’t know about India, never having been there, but at lease one of our competitiors is working on a scale that is hard to comprehend.
Beyond the comment about venture capital outside the United States, is the comment about offering attractive exit opportunities. Exits have been few and far between in the last year and more. In the end exits drive the whole investment model and somehow, directly or indirectly, the deployment of new technology in business and personal life drives the rate at which companies will be acquired or go public. Obviously other factors impact it as well, but I wonder if the aging of the U.S. population doesn’t slow down the rate at which, as a country, we can/do absorb new technologies. Is demographics a drag on innovation?
Consider how comfortable your grandfather, father, you, your children are with Facebook, iphone apps, or whatever. I still have not programmed the automatic garage door opener in my new car. I write this blog and I send the occasional tweet, but if the world has to depend upon me to drive adoption of the next big thing, you could be waiting a while.
