The venture business is a bit of an apprenticeship business, so the firm I worked for didn't let me make an investment until I was 30. That was probably a very smart thing.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
I'd been a great angel investor, but professional venture capital was clearly not the right thing for me.
I don't think a lot of people have been entrepreneurial about venture capital.
I'll say this: I can't think of one instance in my 20 years in venture capital in which I have wanted to sell a company before the entrepreneur.
If I were to leave and raise a venture fund, I would have to find 10 or 100 LPs. They would all give me a bunch of money, and I would take a percentage of that to pay myself. They would expect me to invest that over the next three years, and they want that money back in seven or eight years.
Venture funds get beaten up for not investing in important things. Okay, if you want venture funds to invest in important things, then don't penalize or make fun of them when those important things don't work.
When I was very young, maybe 12 years, I began to make investments.
Every venture capitalist says at some point, 'I wish I could run this company myself' - to be the entrepreneur instead of the investor.
The problem with taking venture capital is if you take $5m from someone, it may feel great; you may feel like they're validating your business model. But they're giving $5m out to 20 different people, hoping one of them will be a hit. They don't really care if it's you.
Well, when I was very young, maybe 12 years, I began to make investments.
When I sold my first company at 30, I could have done whatever I wanted to do.