Siminoff, Venrock part ways, reasons unknown

January 9, 2009 | Camille Ricketts | Comments |

updated
David Siminoff, now former general partner at Venrock, has left the venture firm after a little over a year and a half. The move, confirmed by the firm, is significant considering Siminoff’s stature in the Silicon Valley venture community. It’s unclear what prompted the change — whether he left of his own accord or was somehow caught up in the wave of downsizing hitting funds of Venrock’s caliber. Further details have yet to be disclosed.

[Update: We've since been told by a Venrock spokeswoman that Siminoff left because he wanted to focus more on his love for digital media. He'll be working with his wife, Ellen, on her new company, Shmoop, an online homework and writing helper for high-school and college students, among other things. He'll consult for Venrock in a partner role through June, and will not leave the company boards he joined while making investments at the firm.]

It’s highly likely he decided to quit — he certainly has the wealth and prestige necessary to operate independently from an established firm. One of the heroes of the late-90s tech bubble, he made investments in Yahoo, America Online and eBay that yielded several billon dollars before retiring stylishly early. He made his comeback in April 2007, joining Venrock’s $600 million fund, but had already financed a few enteprises of his own, including mobile search service 4INFO. During his time at the firm, he worked with video messaging provider Tapioca Mobile, presentation-sharing site SlideShare and anime streaming site Crunchyroll.

There’s an outside chance his area of expertise — media companies — contributed to his departure. As former chief executive of dating-site umbrella Spark Networks, he was clearly closely-tied to the area. But the challenges facing this sector, flagging advertising models chief among them, are formidable and highly visible. And many firms are turning their attention, preferring instead to place safer bets on cleantech companies that continue to perform well despite the downturn. Even when Siminoff first joined, a good chunk of the fund was devoted to alternative enery development. Other marquee names like Kleiner Perkins have grown their green activity, and Steve Jurvetson of DFJ just spoke to us about shifting his focus to cleantech.

Then again, Venrock just drafted David Pakman in October to work on digital media investments in New York, so the firm doesn’t seem to be shying away from media startups [Update: The firm's spokeswoman said the firm is also actively recruting for new partners]. More on Siminoff’s plans is sure to be released in the next day.

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About the Author, Camille Ricketts

Camille is the lead writer for GreenBeat. She came to VentureBeat from Google where she worked on its traditional platforms team, particularly in TV. Before that, she was a reporter for the Wall Street Journal in New York and London. Follow her on Twitter at @camillericketts, and follow VentureBeat on Twitter at @venturebeat.

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  • jay
    He was a ludicrous hire to begin with. No understanding of the social web. Look at his investments at Venrock, all dogs.
  • Rob
    Dogs are being polite!

    http://www.crunchyroll.com/about/
    "wondering if the business plan was checked for punctuation when they asked for 4MM"

    http://www.slideshare.net/
    "good idea but a revenue longshot. Slideshow creators are a dime a dozen"

    http://www.tapiocamobile.com/
    " visit it in IE, site doesnt even work properly. How are they going to make content for 1000's of phones if they cannot do for 4 main web browsers"
  • buzzsaw
    I'd have to agree that this guy was the WRONG person to hire for Internet VC. Venrock took the wrong advice from some headhunter. They likely made an equally bad choice in Pakman.
  • jay
    Yes, this is why no self-respecting web entrepreneur would take money from Venrock. They are the last refuge for the desperate, which is the case for each of his investments--all panned by any reputable Internet VC.
  • Rob
    David Biesl has an enormous following in Boston with his WebInnovator events. Ive got alot of respect for that guy.... so I'd have to disagree with your general statement here about them as a company.... I woudln't judge Pakman so quickly. I've never met their west coast team so.
  • jay
    Rob:

    WTF--Has there ever been even a mediocre consumer Internet venture headquartered in Boston? The last one I can recall is Lycos.

    Complete graveyard for consumer web companies.
  • Bob
    David is can a good partner if he likes you, generally you have to be still an undergrad at Stanford or recent Stanford grad. He likes people who will listen to him because "his wife was employee #5 at Yahoo" and won't question his direction.

    You can read the posts on TheFunded, he was widely viewed as abrasive and arrogant. From my personal interactions I can say I totally agree. He was a total jerk in my experience.
  • Ramon
    I though he was an visionary and very knowledgeable in digital media. He was very accepting of small companies that did not have all their ducks in a row and gave them great direction. He was not abrasive but quite busy, when he gave you time it was undivided and fully focused.
  • Rob
    Ha! looks like they fixed the site I mentioned above:) Somebody at Venrock is reading this.

    Jay.... I guess that makes the west coast a dog yard.
  • jim
    siminoff's an asshole and venrock asked him to leave because, again, he's an asshole
  • Amy
    It's clear that none of you know David well or have worked with him. It is also clear that you all have unfunded business plans. What, couldn't make it on cash? boo hoo I bet that's David's fault too