Comments on: NEA abandoning venture capital? Won’t be the last firm to do so

By: VentureBeat » VCs in China: Kleiner’s shirt factory, Sequoia’s farm

Fri, 19 Oct 2007 19:17:36 +0000

[...] capital firms have been busy investing beyond high technology, as we’ve previously written. But how about Chinese shirt factories and [...]

By: VentureBeat » VCs in China: Kleiner’s shirt factory, Sequoia’s farm

Fri, 19 Oct 2007 19:17:36 +0000

[...] capital firms have been busy investing beyond high technology, as we’ve previously written. But how about Chinese shirt factories and [...]

By: VentureBeat » Venture industry decline?

VentureBeat » Venture industry decline? — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 14:57:13 +0000

[...] the venture industry shrinking? It’s still too early to say, but anecdotal evidence keeps [...]

By: Josh Makower, MD

Josh Makower, MD — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 08:08:28 +0000

Dear Matt:
I would like to comment on your piece above. While I can appreciate from an outsiders point of view some of NEAs moves may appear to diverge from your view of traditional venture capital, as an entrepreneur that has created over six raw start-ups with NEAs help over the past decade I feel this could not be farther from the truth. In my direct experience over all these years, NEAs core strategy has remained constant: invest in great management teams with change-the-world ideas and back them through thick and thin at every stage of the investment cycle. In my view, NEA is not a firm that widely publicizes its activities, preferring a quiet respectable reputation, thus perhaps the source of confusion. Having watched (and participated in some of) NEAs early stage nuturing of entrepreneurs on the healthcare and technology side over the years into present day, I can assure you, NEAs commitment to traditional venture capital has not waivered, it has only expanded.
Respectfully submitted –
Josh Makower, MD
Chairman & CEO, ExploraMed Development LLC
Consulting Assoc. Professor, Stanford University School of Medicine
Venture Partner, NEA
Companies I founded with the help of NEA: ExploraMed I (1995), Endomatrix (1996), TransVascular (1996), ExploraMed II (2004), Acclarent (2004), NeoTract (2005), ExploraMed III (2006), Vibrynt (2006), NC4 (2007)

By: Don Jones

Don Jones — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 22:41:50 +0000

Private equity funds are doing series B investments, venture capital firms are doing more non tech deals, we’re not in Kansas anymore…