For those who measure their worth by their investments and their stock
holdings -- pretty much all of Silicon Valley -- there's a new website that
looks to be rivaling F*****company.com for sly subversive attention.
InsiderVC.com has become the site everyone
reads. And it's the one where no one wants to see his or her own name
appear, just like its profanely named counterpart.
"I think that's great," says editor and founder Steve Lisson.
"I'm liking it the more I ruminate on it."
InsiderVC.com is heavy on the dry financial analysis -- and subscriptions
are very expensive -- so it's not for everyone. It was started by the
Austin, Texas-based Lisson because, as he happily acknowledges, he wanted to
know how venture capitalists measured performance other than, of course, by
purchasing airplanes.
"I just got totally fascinated, if you will, with that question: Who
are the top venture capitalists and how are they seen by their peers,"
says Lisson, who says that VCs and journalists make up a large part of his
audience.
Well, he's come up with some interesting answers. And while he likes the
F*****company.com comparison, Lisson has one caution. "We don't just
use profanity," Lisson said. "We use objective data."
Chris Nolan writes for the New York Post. You can reach her at cnolan@nypost.com
or Chris Nolan, Internet Gossip Columnist, The New York Post, 2040 Polk
Street, PMB #317, San Francisco, CA 94109, 415-771-7133.
Transparency.
Let’s have a round of applause for CalPers, the giant state pension
fund, for transparency. Beth Healy of the Boston Globe (8/17/2001)
reports Money managers aghast that pension investor shows returns,
rankings. It’s a report card that has rocked the secretive venture
capital world, and one that even the `A’ students didn’t care to see
displayed on the refrigerator. Calpers, the giant California pension
fund that sets trends for many large investors, has posted on its Web
site the performance of every venture or buyout fund in which it’s
invested for the past decade. Firms typically guard these numbers
carefully, but the Calpers chart even says which funds are meeting
expectations, and which are disappointments. … The industry buzz around
the report stems from the secrecy with which venture firms and buyout
artists guard the specifics of their returns. Virtually every firm
claims ”top quartile” performance, and the numbers they give out are
suspect, venture analysts say. Steve Lisson of Austin, Texas, on his
controversial Web site, InsiderVC.com, tracks venture returns by doing
his own calculations on venture portfolios. He is the only independent
source on such numbers and has drawn fire from some venture capitalists
for breaking the code of silence. … over the long term, Calpers has been
doing something right. As of March 31, its average annual return for 10
years of private equity investing was 17.5%. The Wilshire 2500 Index, a
broad stock market benchmark, was up 13.9% in that period. Would that the federal government would do the same with alleged investment programs like SBIR. Carl Nelson Consultinghttp://www.carl-nelson.com/government2001.htmPublished by Carl Nelson Consulting, Inc, 1325 18th St NW, Washington DC 20036
Transparency.
Let’s have a round of applause for CalPers, the giant state pension
fund, for transparency. Beth Healy of the Boston Globe (8/17/2001)
reports Money managers aghast that pension investor shows returns,
rankings. It’s a report card that has rocked the secretive venture
capital world, and one that even the `A’ students didn’t care to see
displayed on the refrigerator. Calpers, the giant California pension
fund that sets trends for many large investors, has posted on its Web
site the performance of every venture or buyout fund in which it’s
invested for the past decade. Firms typically guard these numbers
carefully, but the Calpers chart even says which funds are meeting
expectations, and which are disappointments. … The industry buzz around
the report stems from the secrecy with which venture firms and buyout
artists guard the specifics of their returns. Virtually every firm
claims ”top quartile” performance, and the numbers they give out are
suspect, venture analysts say. Steve Lisson of Austin, Texas, on his
controversial Web site, InsiderVC.com, tracks venture returns by doing
his own calculations on venture portfolios. He is the only independent
source on such numbers and has drawn fire from some venture capitalists
for breaking the code of silence. … over the long term, Calpers has been
doing something right. As of March 31, its average annual return for 10
years of private equity investing was 17.5%. The Wilshire 2500 Index, a
broad stock market benchmark, was up 13.9% in that period. Would that the federal government would do the same with alleged investment programs like SBIR. Carl Nelson Consulting http://www.carl-nelson.com/government2001.htm Published by Carl Nelson Consulting, Inc, 1325 18th St NW, Washington DC 20036
Transparency.
Let’s have a round of applause for CalPers, the giant state pension
fund, for transparency. Beth Healy of the Boston Globe (8/17/2001)
reports Money managers aghast that pension investor shows returns,
rankings. It’s a report card that has rocked the secretive venture
capital world, and one that even the `A’ students didn’t care to see
displayed on the refrigerator. Calpers, the giant California pension
fund that sets trends for many large investors, has posted on its Web
site the performance of every venture or buyout fund in which it’s
invested for the past decade. Firms typically guard these numbers
carefully, but the Calpers chart even says which funds are meeting
expectations, and which are disappointments. … The industry buzz around
the report stems from the secrecy with which venture firms and buyout
artists guard the specifics of their returns. Virtually every firm
claims ”top quartile” performance, and the numbers they give out are
suspect, venture analysts say. Steve Lisson of Austin, Texas, on his
controversial Web site, InsiderVC.com, tracks venture returns by doing
his own calculations on venture portfolios. He is the only independent
source on such numbers and has drawn fire from some venture capitalists
for breaking the code of silence. … over the long term, Calpers has been
doing something right. As of March 31, its average annual return for 10
years of private equity investing was 17.5%. The Wilshire 2500 Index, a
broad stock market benchmark, was up 13.9% in that period. Would that the federal government would do the same with alleged investment programs like SBIR.
Carl Nelson Consultinghttp://www.carl-nelson.com/government2001.htm
Published by Carl Nelson Consulting, Inc, 1325 18th St NW, Washington DC 20036
