When I joined Target Partners in early 2007 I also changed sides of the table from being an entrepreneur to becoming “One of them”, a VC. During my time as an entrepreneur I had a lot of experience working with VCs and related investment managers.  Over time I became very critical of VC’s and investment managers because in my view some of them didn’t have the kind of operational experience needed to support their portfolio companies to ensure success. They were missing the “seen it done it” expertise and sometimes they had an arrogant attitude.

I promised myself that I would try to avoid making all of the big mistakes they made including the way they conduct themselves.

Today I found a presentation which really brings it to the point (maybe a bit exaggerated and a bit caricatured):

I am screening this particular trend and market since some months and I will share some key findings about social gaming in my next posts.

The animation gives you a brief intro about social gaming:

[vimeo=http://vimeo.com/605304]

The summer season is near and the first tournaments will start in May. It’s time to exercise and to the get the final cut. As every year we are going to Mallorca to join the ChampCamp Beach Volleyball Camp:

• 5 days training
• Experiences and well-educated coaches (especially Martin)
• A lot of fun with 80 players

From 1999 until the end of 2006 I founded several technology startups. I am also a business angel and have invested in several startups since 2001. During this time I learned a lot about the startup business. How to raise money? How to build execution driven management teams? How to market products? And how to work with VC’s? (I painfully felt the drawbacks as well as the joys of having a VC investor on the advisory board.) I also learned how to bootstrap a startup as well as how to sell a company (exit). And a lot more…

In 2007 I joined Target Partners, a Munich based Venture Capital firm, as a Venture Partner. Since then I fully immersed myself as an investment professional and was always treated as part of the team. Early this year, I joined Target Partners as a new Partner.

People often ask me how to become a venture capitalist and why I decided to become a VC instead of founding or joining another company. To be honest – it just happened.

After two years of working on the other side of the table as a VC I have to emphazise that this move was a rather large paradigm shift for me. The entrepreneurial mind-set is more like “Yes, I can fix it” or “Come on, just do it”. As a VC I can’t operationally work in a startup as part of management, meaning, “I won’t fix it”. The entrepreneur/management team members are responsible for the operative business. In my new role “I have to let go”. Now, I am standing on the sidelines watching the game and hoping that my advisc, tips and voice might be heard and used by the team.

Seen it – done it

However, let me point out one important quality a VC should have. This insight is based on my work with VC’s as an entrepreneur as well as my experience working as a VC over the last two years:

• A good VC should have an entrepreneurial background.

Sure, there are exceptions, but statistics show that a good VC usually has a background which includes growing companies and/or developing and marketing products and services. Why? Because he will understand the needs, the problems, the daily work of a startup much better than a VC who has only seen it from the sideline and wasn’t part of the game.

Is the entrepreneurial background and experience enough to make a good VC investor? Definitely not! Venture Capital is a detail driven business, which demands additional talents and skills (e.g. curiosity, networking, accuracy, gut feeling, readiness and a lot more).

Conclusion: It was the right move

During the last two years I have enjoyed working with driven and enthusiastic entrepreneurs. I have seen interesting business cases and some not so interesting ones. I will focus on this chapter in an extra post.

SOCIALISM
You have 2 cows.
You give one to your neighbour.

COMMUNISM
You have 2 cows.
The State takes both and gives you some milk.

FASCISM
You have 2 cows.
The State takes both and sells you some milk.

NAZISM
You have 2 cows.
The State takes both and shoots you.

BUREAUCRATISM
You have 2 cows.
The State takes both, shoots one, milks the other, and then throws the milk away…

TRADITIONAL CAPITALISM
You have two cows.
You sell one and buy a bull.Your herd multiplies, and the economy grows.
You sell them and retire on the income.

SURREALISM
You have two giraffes.
The government requires you to take harmonica lessons.

AN AMERICAN CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You sell one, and force the other to produce the milk of four cows.
Later, you hire a consultant to analyse why the cow has dropped dead.

ENRON VENTURE CAPITALISM
You have two cows.
You sell three of them to your publicly listed company, using letters of credit opened by your brother-in-law at the bank, then execute a debt/equity swap with an associated general offer so that you get all four cows back, with a tax exemption for five cows.
The milk rights of the six cows are transferred via an intermediary to a Cayman Island Company secretly owned by the majority shareholder who sells the rights to all seven cows back to your listed company.
The annual report says the company owns eight cows, with an option on one more.
You sell one cow to buy a new president of the United States, leaving you with nine cows.No balance sheet provided with the release.
The public then buys your bull.

A FRENCH CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You go on strike, organise a riot, and block the roads, because you want three cows.

A JAPANESE CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You redesign them so they are one-tenth the size of an ordinary cow and produce twenty times the milk.
You then create a clever cow cartoon image called ‘Cowkimon’ and market it worldwide.

A GERMAN CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You re-engineer them so they live for 100 years, eat once a month, and milk themselves.

AN ITALIAN CORPORATION
You have two cows, but you don’t know where they are.
You decide to have lunch.

A RUSSIAN CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You count them and learn you have five cows.
You count them again and learn you have 42 cows.
You count them again and learn you have 2 cows.
You stop counting cows and open another bottle of vodka.

A SWISS CORPORATION
You have 5000 cows. None of them belong to you.
You charge the owners for storing them.

A CHINESE CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You have 300 people milking them.
You claim that you have full employment, and high bovine productivity.
You arrest the newsman who reported the real situation.

AN INDIAN CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You worship them.

A BRITISH CORPORATION
You have two cows.
Both are mad.

AN IRAQI CORPORATION
Everyone thinks you have lots of cows.
You tell them that you have none.
No-one believes you, so they bomb the **** out of you and invade your country.
You still have no cows, but at least now you are part of Democracy….

AN AUSTRALIAN CORPORATION
You have two cows.
Business seems pretty good.
You close the office and go for a few beers to celebrate.

Yesterday I had the chance to check the G1 from a pure user perspective.

If you want to read something about the features and the specs you will find a lot – just search for “G1 vs. iPhone”. I am not going to talk about features and specs. tbh – I don’t care that much that the G1 weights 158g and the iPhone weights 133g. Important for me is the first impression and the first user experience. Do I immediately feel comfortable to use is? Am I curious to explore more functions of the device?

Long story short: the G1 didn’t strike me that much. For sure – it is a nice device if I compare it with all the other smart phones and palms. But it is by far not as intuitive and user friendly compared with the iPhone.

To all the iPhone users:

• Do you still remember the impression and experience when you used the iPhone the first time?
• Are you still amazed about the ease of use?
• Are you still enthused when you use the iPhone?

For the G1 this will be a tough job to outplay.

When will this recession end? No question – it will end

Forbes announced its Chirp Index which includes a lot of early indicators. Right now it’s singing a possible economic rebound in August 2009.

Wether Forbes is right or not. We’ll know in 12 months. But I like the fact that someone tells us that there is hope. Enjoy the video….

The Wahlkreis invited to a turnament in Berlin. Andre and I played the Beachvolleyball Cup and represented Trupoli and Polixea.

The other teams were from TV station (ZDF), political parties and some other political orientated organizations.

We played the final under floodlight and with about 100 spectators. Long story short: Andre and I have won.

There are intensive discussions about an official Naturalization Test in Germany. Here are some examples. Just check it out

http://www.sueddeutsche.de/jobkarriere/special/180/179628/

Do you still remember the year 2000? Young founders (often from BCG or McKinsey) presented their ideas about ecommerce websites on a one-pager and asked for funding? As a matter of fact – some investors gave them money. Why? Because everybody else invested in an ecommerce website. It was not a question about market size, technology, customer needs or the skill sets nor the experience of the team. It was about hope and hype.

Today I am looking around, trying not to think that another .com bubble is coming.

Business Angles and VCs burned a lot of money in 1999 and 2000. Some of them did not learn a thing- or they have already forgotten the pain.

Fast forward to 2007

Young founders are asking again for funding with ridiculous valuations based on one-pagers. But today, the founders are even younger, they directly come from univerities and business schools. btw: I am 7 years older compared to the year 2000.