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January 22, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Open source VC: Who is Santa?
Who are the "top VCs" when it comes to "getting" open source (and, more importantly, giving to it?). I tried compiling a list this morning (see below), and here's what I came up with. I initially just went from memory as to who has invested in what. Wanting to be slightly more scientific, however, I decided to employ some (sketchy) metrics:
To be on the list, the partner must have invested in at least two credible open source* companies.
It's actually amazing what happens when you apply this simple test. Many of the VCs that I think of as open source savvy (see bottom) have yet to achieve the volume necessary to make this list. Of course, this may be a good thing: quality over quantity. So, don't read this as a be all, end all list of who's cool and who's a loser in the open source venture world. Some of the people who didn't make the "Most active" list are great friends of mine. (But maybe that makes them a loser, even if their lack of open source investment activity doesn't? :-)
As noted, the list above is not comprehensive of all the smart open source VCs out there - just the most active. Some that I've had close interaction with, from whom I'd gladly take money (Again, this list is not comprehensive - it's early AM here in London, and I'm sure I'm forgetting people):
Ray Lane (Kleiner Perkins - SpikeSource), David Skok (Matrix - JBoss), Bob Lisbonne (Matrix - AppTran, LucidEra. Bob ran the browser business at Netscape and managed its metamorphosis into Mozilla. If AppTran were open source, he'd be on the list), Irwin Gross (Worldview - ActiveGrid), and Josh Stein (DFJ - SugarCRM).
*Disclaimer: Since no one knows anymore what "open source company" means, given that we've stretched the definition to cover any company that has ever thought the words "open" and "source" in the same paragraph, I'm applying my definition. I'll tell you what it is in a follow-on post.
Posted by Matt Asay on January 22, 2006 09:52 PM
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I think the weight of your premise being based upon the volume of open source deals does not at all prove who the smart open source VCs are. It could just mean they had the most money to get rid of. It's too early to tell, the smartest are the ones that have the most open source investments that reach a positive transaction.(IPO, M@A)And we won't know that for a few years to see a trend. I certainly agree with a number of the people on your list including Mary Coleman, whom I term the smartest, and certainly Peter Fenton, although we disagree on one of his deals. What about Philippe Cases of Partech and Rob Theis at DCM, I call them smart for the deals they passed on.
Andrew
Posted by: andrew at January 23, 2006 07:42 AMI mostly agree, Andrew (though I think your comments might be somewhat influenced by the VCs on your client list ;-). But I never said "volume = quality." In fact, I was careful to point out a few "one-dealers" who I consider wicked smart (Irwin and Bob, in particular, but maybe the others fall into that, as well - I simply don't know them as well).
I know Philippe and agree he's great. Most of the VCs on the high-volume list I know very well or reasonably well - I'd class Kevin, Danny, etc. as some of the smartest people anywhere, VC or no. So, often volume does go well with quality. But not always, to be sure.
Matt
Posted by: Matt Asay at January 23, 2006 09:36 AMWhat I'd be interested in hearing about is where you think VCs fall short in understanding open source and to what extent this correlates with their portfolio companies' management not fully understanding how to unlock the value of an open source strategy.
I've seen this time and time again with the companies that work with Apache in some way - there's a fundamental shift required in the assumptions you make about your relationship dynamics with customers, developers, suppliers when you truly want to capture the (bottom line) beauty of open source.
Posted by: Susan Wu at February 3, 2006 11:48 AM
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