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Is there room for an advisory-only VC that's not beholden to LPs? And if so, what would that look like?
by sinak 13y ago
Is there room for an advisory-only VC that's not beholden to LPs? And if so, what would that look like?
- j_baker 13y agoErm... Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't "advisory-only VC" an oxymoron? If you're not investing capital, you're not a Venture Capital firm.
- sinak 13y agoYeah, I should have been a bit clearer on what I mean: VCs typically offer a lot more than just money. Things like their networks, advice, and positions on company boards for example. There could be quite a bit of value to companies that simply fill those roles, as an organization, similar to what individuals to as advisors. I think that in many cases that might look quite similar to existing accelerators, except that accelerators generally target very early stage companies. Sam discusses drops in the idea at the bottom of his post: The best VCs are great, and they will probably continue to do well. In fact, they’re so good that they could probably get away with only selling advice—they understand how to build big companies in a way that few other people in the world do.
- grimtrigger 13y agoI believe that would be a consultant
- SkyAtWork 13y agoPresumably it would look a lot like an accelerator, inasmuch as most accelerators don't put in any significant amount of capital but do add a lot of experience around startup growth.
- cschmidt 13y agoPerhaps like a current advisory board. You gather a group of advisers, and compensate them with some equity.
- spartango 13y agoSounds like a management or business consulting arrangement, except longer-term and compensated with equity. Management consulting is a fairly large industry, but there's an open debate about how effective it is, particularly for startups.
- rayiner 13y agoIt would look like McKinsey, except for startups.