No Need to Give a Eulogy for Venture Capital

A great line from James Sanger (General Partner, ABS Ventures)!

However, he did point out that old venture capital models seem to no longer be working. He stressed that companies need to take advantage of innovation trends, pointing out the success of organizations exploring opportunities stemming from Facebook and Twitter.

He also noted that in the past, venture capitalists were looking for the next big idea. Today, he feels it’s credibility that is driving investment choices.

“It’s looking for good ideas. The big ideas have so much risk,” said Sanger.

Credibility is also key, according to Sanger, who said companies these days may be more likely to work with people they know. Also, being able to provide as much information and details as possible about the project can help win over venture capitalists.

Questions after the presentation included strategic investment in terms of the balance of reaching out to both traditional financial institutions as well as alternative VC programs.

“There’s an awful lot of opportunities for hybrids that work well,” said Sanger.

However, he did note that VC units within financial institutions have been closing at a more rapid rate as of late.

Another question centered around advice for managers of innovation at large financial institutions. Josh Lerner (Jacob H. Schiff Professor of Investment Banking, Harvard Business School), who presented before Sanger, called innovation management at large financial institutions “unsystematized” and also pointed out problems related to tracking the budgets for projects.


PYMNTS.com Blog Entries from the Innovation Institute

Day 1

  1. David S. Evans: Why the Time Is Right for Innovation (and Cash Is Not Dead) (9 a.m.)
  2. No Need to Give a Eulogy for Venture Capital (10 a.m.)
  3. There’s Two Sides to Every [Payments Platform] Story (11:30 a.m.)
  4. The Key to Igniting and Launching Mobile Payments Platforms (12:30 p.m.)
  5. Fed’s Proposal for Interchange Rates to Be Announced Within a Few Weeks (2:30 p.m.)
  6. What Payments Professionals Can Learn from FarmVille (4 p.m.)
  7. Driving Network Effects with Platforms (4:30 p.m.)
  8. What Is The Next Great Payment App That Has Yet To Be Created? (5 p.m.)

 

Day 2

  1. Can the U.S. Replicate Japan’s Mobile Payments Success? (8:30 a.m.)
  2. POS Opportunities around Social Networking (9:30 a.m.)
  3. POS Innovation in the Cloud (10:30 a.m.)
  4. American Idol: Payments Innovation Style (Noon)
  5. Federal Reserve: Cash Usage Increased in 2009 (1:30 p.m.)
  6. Tips for Catering to Consumers’ Payment Preferences (2:30 p.m.)
  7. How Walmart Views Consumer Payments Behavior (3 p.m.)