Matthew Mandel

I mentioned before that I’ve been reading a ton of old blogs since I started this blog. It’s actually a very fun activity – regular blogs from decades ago are really fascinating artifacts.

Anyway, I was recently reading 2005 AVC posts:

Howard’s list of problems with the venture business is at least three years old and in many cases at least ten years old.

Too much capital chasing too few deals?   I’ve heard that since the day I entered the business in 1986.  That’s always the case in this business.

Innovation is dead?  Come on.  What planet are you living on Howard?  Stuff is happening so fast right now I can’t sleep or I’ll miss something important.

Venture returns sucked in the 1999 and 2000 period?  Is that news?   How about showing the early returns on the 2001 and 2002 vintages?

Enterprises are sick of buying technology?  Sure IT organizations aren’t buying hardware and software as much anymore, but business units are buying software services they don’t have to manage and deploy like no tomorrow.

It’s kind of amazing how the same cynical points get recycled through the years. Fred was obviously right that venture was exciting in ’05, and the same arguments continue to ring true today.