“Forbes’ Midas List is purely based on statistics (the methodology is explained on our Web site), and we work very hard to make the list a trusted
indicator of the success of high tech dealmakers. PR firms have no influence over our reporters and no amount of PR will get a person on the list if he
or she does not have the exits to warrant inclusion.

Regarding David Spreng at Crescendo, thank you for pointing out the error regarding Indigo. We have made the correction to our database. We strive to
be as accurate as possible but occasionally errors occur.”

A couple data points:

1) Calpers, per the chart you refer to, committed a small and a large amount to two NEA funds. The small amount saw a negative return; what’s more important is the larger commitment is seeing (so far) a neutral to positive return. Which is good for NEA and the LPs, and explains their success in raising the new mega fund (when Worldview or Crescendo failed at much smaller amounts.)

2) Crescendo, per your update, faced a lawsuit from an LP after accepting an investment from the LP sight unseen. This was arranged by an “investment manager helping Crescendo raise the cash.” In the earlier discussion on Worldview Jane Morris from Veritage Group piped up to speak for Crescendo and Spreng. Funny, the Veritage Group’s business is investment management in helping VCs raise cash. Won’t anyone be surprised if Jane/Veritage was the “investment manager” in the above Crescendo saga? Talk of self-serving interests and integrity!
3) We also saw a few self-serving postings in the earlier discussion on Worldview/Orsak wherein some executives piped up to support him. They shut up when their hidden agenda–their independence is very questionable as they need more financing from Orsak–was exposed.

Can’t wait to see Worldview, Crescendo, Bay and their likes engage in this forum. What a treat it’d be to check out their Midas Touch credentials, hear from their (ex)colleagues, LPs, entrepreneurs and employees of portfolio companies, and discuss publicly their predatory, rapacious acts of commission and omission that led to the death of many companies!

But the analogy isn’t perfect, because it still takes VCs money to produce those bad eggs, and so the money is lost. It counts toward their performance results. Now, by “drawing a line in the sand”, and telling your investors that you’d like to treat the results of the first half of the fund differently because of exceptional post-bubble circumstances, why that’s to the investors to decide whether they will go for or not.

That’s why Spreng is having a little trouble, since he initially tried to raise another fund several years ago, and didn’t have much luck. I think we’ll be hearing more from Primack on Monday, and I’ll post a link.

Yes, I’m ready to talk with Worldvew, Bay or Crescendo and to have a sensible conversation with them. It is difficult when you don’t have their cooperation.

Side note: Regarding the latest peace on NEA, which I posted yesterday, that firm’s Mark Perry got back to me, and talked on the record. I’m still in correspondence with him about a few things, but it really helped clear things up — and I’d like to update the post as a result, to reflect his views on the matter. That it makes a huge difference.

As I said in an earlier post, SiliconBeat is and provides a forum for the VCs too. They are free to respond if they feel the comments are not factual, and extreme or critical in an unsupported manner.

Expecting them to engage in a dialog is an exercise in foolishness. If you’ve worked with them you’ll know they consider themselves above questions even to LPs. Witness how LPs who questioned Mayfield or Sequoia or Accel, to name just three, were kicked out of the funds. If I remember right Matt attempted to dialog with Worldview/Crescendo/Bay and found them largely unresponsive.

SiliconBeat is playing a constructive role in leveling the field and exposing dictatorships, and that promises to usher in a better tomorrow for all: LPs, entrepreneurs, employees nad other shareholders/investors, and in turn the VCs.

Boingo, the southern California company that provides high-speed wireless access to hotel, airports and other public locales, has raised $65 million in a third round of funding. This is apparently a case of investment creep. Just last month, the compa…

It is precisely this exchange of information, in a blog focused on Silicon Valley business and associated with the Valley’s premier daily, that makes SiliconBeat so relevant to entrepreneurs, employees, VCs and LPs.

Imagine the value to an entrepreneur about to evaluate different VCs bidding to invest in his company. Some VCs may not like this kind of disclosure but the genie is of the bottle and I hope Matt keeps it that way in SiliconBeat.