looking for people looking for venture capital

May 3, 2006 11:13 AM

who do I find people looking for venture capital (small)

small Irish based company in telecoms,very succesful and has cash funds on hand looking for maybe 2-3 small projects to back with funds.
We cant find any info on proceeding with this.Is there a forum where people post or a site or something.
thanks

posted by patphelan to work & money (8 comments total)

If by 'small project' we're talking under a couple hundred thousand, the distraction it introduces to your management / owners may not be worth taking on, especially if the company is small in terms of the # of people -- your main business could suffer as a result.

Remember, too, that VCs generally expect very high returns (30%++) over relatively short terms. The reason they expect this is because so many backed projects fail spectacularly.

You might want to evaluate other uses of the capital (expansion of your own company, investment into safer financial vehicles, etc)....
posted by gage at 11:30 AM on May 3, 2006

If the funding amount is small, it's probably more "angel" investing as opposed to traditional venture capital. Check various angel investment groups - the only ones I'm familiar with are in Ontario, but there must be some in the UK somewhere.
posted by GuyZero at 11:40 AM on May 3, 2006

You might contact someone at the Irish Venture Capital Association.
posted by GuyZero at 11:42 AM on May 3, 2006

Or the British Business Angels Association.
posted by GuyZero at 11:44 AM on May 3, 2006

Ask your solicitors.

If your law firm is reasonably aligned to technology clients, it is a dead certainty that they'll know of dozens of early-stage projects, ranging from the idea stage (something a couple executives of a client are thinking about launching) to businesses which are already revenue positive, and everywhere in between.

A bonus to this approach is that every idea and entrepreneur is pre-screened for at least some degree of suitability. (If you are looking to invest in a gang of wild-eyed visionaries, you might regard this factor as a deficit, not a bonus...)
posted by MattD at 11:51 AM on May 3, 2006

Why not look for projects or back those you already find useful? I'm sure some of your suppliers are probably small businesses who could do a lot with some money to take them up to their next level.
posted by wackybrit at 12:11 PM on May 3, 2006

Successful VC-style investing requires the wherewithal to invest in a sufficiently large portfolio of companies over multiple investment rounds.

The typical rule of thumb is that something like 90% of the ROI in a typical VC fund comes from 10% of the portfolio companies. So, you need to be able to make enough bets to be sure that you get one or two winners, and once you've got a winner, you have to be prepared to provide follow-on investments necessary to help it acheive its potential.

One option is to be a minority participant in deals where you have a strategic interest.
posted by Good Brain at 12:45 PM on May 3, 2006

patphelan, meet Mikey-San.
posted by nicwolff at 6:55 PM on May 3, 2006