August Capital was doing very late stage deals when most VCs refused to. And its early 2000 era buyout of Seagate was one of the better returns in the firm’s history. So why is it mostly sitting out this round of late-stage mega-deal mania?
In the final segment of our Ask a VC on the road with David Hornik, he explains why the answer to missing out on Facebook early isn’t dumping money in at a… → Read More
Let’s be honest: One of the reasons David Hornik actually agreed to be on camera at All Things D is that he didn’t have a startup about to file to go public any second. So we talked about some of his more high profile investments that haven’t always lived up to the hype.
Hornik explains why reports of Blippy’s death have been greatly exaggerated, and why he says the investment still wasn’t a… → Read More
We haven’t done Ask a VC for a while thanks to my hectic travel schedule, so I pulled David Hornik out of the hallway at D to catch up on his thoughts on his portfolio and the industry.
But first, we chat about the highlights from the All Things Digital conference. Or we started with that and then talked about how the motivation for starting companies is changing in Silicon Valley, given the… → Read More
Ten years ago, most VCs refused to invest outside of Silicon Valley. Now, most of them have funds in Israel, Europe, India or China– and lately many of those Chinese funds are outperforming the US counterparts. But August Capital is still sticking with the kind of local venture capital that built this industry, and David Hornik explains why in this week’s episode of Ask a VC.
But, Portland? Yeah… → Read More
We’ve come to the last installment of the Super Angel v. VC SMACKDOWN and we’ve saved the wonkiest, nerdiest topic for last: Should entrepreneurs swap investor cash for convertible debt or equity?
Somehow, this is the topic that generates the most passion. If you don’t understand the basics, August Capital’s David Hornik– a former lawyer– breaks them down: “It’s about price and control.” Angels… → Read More
Ding, ding! It’s round four of our Super Angel v. VC SMACKDOWN. Both of our pugilist Davids live and work in Silicon Valley. Given that today’s topic is about whether or not the heft of East Coast Super Angels like Josh Kopelman, Chris Dixon and Fred Wilson is pulling the center of early stage funding gravity away from famed Sand Hill Road, you’d think it’d be nothing but agreement. “Oh, no… → Read More
In part three of our Super Angel v. VC SMACKDOWN Dave McClure says “I am all about the flip. GREED IS GOOD. I am Gordon Gekko in Silicon Valley.” But is he? Wouldn’t greed be going after the big win not the tiny flip?
In this clip we come to one of the core distinctions between Super Angels and VCs: Are sub-$50 million exits the desired goal in Silicon Valley or are small acquisitions what you… → Read More
So let me get this straight, you call yourself an angel, but you’re investing limited partners’ money…doesn’t that just make you a small, early-stage VC? And if you’re successful, don’t you just raise a bigger fund and hire more partners, looking a lot more like an early stage VC?
In day two of our David v. David/ Super Angel v. VC SMACKDOWN, even Dave McClure admits “Super Angel” is a flawed… → Read More
Watching the battle of words, blog posts, term sheets and Tweets unfold over the last few weeks between VCs and Super Angels has been a little surreal. I’ve spent a career convincing editors that the internal workings of Venture Capital are more interesting than they sound, but even I can’t muster the passion to declare convertible debt AWESOME while equity TOTALLY SUCKS.
Clearly, this cultural… → Read More
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