Hobnobbing and politics with the National Venture Capital Association

I just got home from the annual meeting of the National Venture Capital Association, which was a fun experience. This may sound a little weird (especially since I’m not looking to get funding for a startup anytime soon), but it was actually kind of exciting to be in a conference room full of venture capitalists. They are, after all, the heart of what we cover at VentureBeat, but until now I’ve only been able to meet a few of them. Even better, I got to pick some of their brains.

The meeting’s highlight was watching famed venture capitalists John Doerr and Michael Moritz interview each other, but there were other events of interest. In this mobile post, I summarize some of the discussion on policy issues relevant to VCs (the short version — significant legislation is unlikely to pass this year) and talk about my general impressions of the conference.

Note: I mention the carried interest tax, but don’t go into much detail so as not to bore people to death. Those of you who are interested can read more at the NVCA’s website, as well as our article about why we support the tax.

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