4 ms·

Ex-Googlers have invested in 200 startups since '05 & are just getting started

46 points by adamhowell 17y ago

adamhowell 17y ago
Good quote from pg (last paragraph): "When people write the history of Silicon Valley 20 years from now," says Graham, "the true impact of Google could come more from all the things that Google people go on to do after they leave Google."
- kylebragger 17y ago
  So true.
- dnsworks 17y ago
  This is certainly true of older, failed companies like Netscape.
  - quickpost 17y ago
    It's also true of Paypal, which has spun off tons of companies (Youtube, Facebook(angels), RockYou, etc.).
nickpp 17y ago
These people definitely have the money, and probably the brains. The question is: is that enough? Because I doubt many of them are entrepreneurs by vocation. Otherwise they wouldn't have been G. employees in the first place, working in their own startups instead. So I guess many of them are angels because "that's what you do if you have money in the Valley". So, how important is being an entrepreneur for the success of the company you are funding? Maybe they should've stayed employees? Or as long as you have the money and the brains, you're a good angel? I guess we'll find out. If nothing else, it will be a great experiment - I would love to see the final statistics.
- mattew 17y ago
  I suspect that a great many of these individuals share the following traits: - extreme intelligence - experience riding an extremely succesful company to the top - conifdence from that ride Many of these folks were in the right place at the right time however, and do not neccesarily have the experience as investors and business advisors. Should be interesting though. It doesn't matter how they got the money, they are putting it to work, and the relative efficiencies that startups have today vs 5 or 10 years ago will make these investments even more effective.
- deleted 17y ago
  [deleted]
mrduncan 17y ago
Ron Conway, one of the Valley's most active angel investors, who has backed 190 companies Anyone happen to know if that number accurate? It seems like, given the length of time he has been investing, that number would be higher.
- jfarmer 17y ago
  They're using the numbers from YouNoodle's report, which only goes back 5-6 years.
  - bkudria 17y ago
    Specifically, for Ron Conway, we look at 2004 and onwards.
yanilkr 17y ago
All of this sounds like an elaborate plan to motivate google employees to quit and start their own ventures.
NEPatriot 17y ago
Not really sure why Google doesn't setup their own version of YC, and fund their own people's startups... Take 5-10% for 20k-30k and let their people have a go at it.
- auston 17y ago
  Close... http://www.google.com/ventures/ http://www.google.com/ventures/
gwern 17y ago
And think, just a month or two ago a hot link on Hacker News was how Google was killing innovation & startups by buying so many.

46 points by adamhowell 17y ago

Good quote from pg (last paragraph): "When people write the history of Silicon Valley 20 years from now," says Graham, "the true impact of Google could come more from all the things that Google people go on to do after they leave Google."

kylebragger 17y ago
So true.
dnsworks 17y ago
This is certainly true of older, failed companies like Netscape.
- quickpost 17y ago
  It's also true of Paypal, which has spun off tons of companies (Youtube, Facebook(angels), RockYou, etc.).

nickpp 17y ago

These people definitely have the money, and probably the brains. The question is: is that enough? Because I doubt many of them are entrepreneurs by vocation. Otherwise they wouldn't have been G. employees in the first place, working in their own startups instead. So I guess many of them are angels because "that's what you do if you have money in the Valley". So, how important is being an entrepreneur for the success of the company you are funding? Maybe they should've stayed employees? Or as long as you have the money and the brains, you're a good angel? I guess we'll find out. If nothing else, it will be a great experiment - I would love to see the final statistics.

mattew 17y ago
I suspect that a great many of these individuals share the following traits: - extreme intelligence - experience riding an extremely succesful company to the top - conifdence from that ride Many of these folks were in the right place at the right time however, and do not neccesarily have the experience as investors and business advisors. Should be interesting though. It doesn't matter how they got the money, they are putting it to work, and the relative efficiencies that startups have today vs 5 or 10 years ago will make these investments even more effective.
deleted 17y ago
[deleted]

mrduncan 17y ago

Ron Conway, one of the Valley's most active angel investors, who has backed 190 companies Anyone happen to know if that number accurate? It seems like, given the length of time he has been investing, that number would be higher.

jfarmer 17y ago
They're using the numbers from YouNoodle's report, which only goes back 5-6 years.
- bkudria 17y ago
  Specifically, for Ron Conway, we look at 2004 and onwards.

yanilkr 17y ago

All of this sounds like an elaborate plan to motivate google employees to quit and start their own ventures.

NEPatriot 17y ago

Not really sure why Google doesn't setup their own version of YC, and fund their own people's startups... Take 5-10% for 20k-30k and let their people have a go at it.

auston 17y ago
Close... http://www.google.com/ventures/ http://www.google.com/ventures/

gwern 17y ago

And think, just a month or two ago a hot link on Hacker News was how Google was killing innovation & startups by buying so many.