I used to work in corporate VC and now I'm co-founder of company that tracks their investments. Some thoughts: Corporate VCs are an important part of the ecos

I used to work in corporate VC and now I'm co-founder of company that tracks their investments. Some thoughts: Corporate VCs are an important part of the ecosystem [1] now as traditional VCs have less money so corporates are helping to fill the gap. Like it or not, if fundraising, they may be in your future. In good news, on average, they write larger checks [2] and may be less valuation sensitive (esp since they're often focused on a double-bottom line, i.e. returns + strategic benefit). Things I'd look for: * What's the quality of their investment syndicate partners? Do they invest frequently with smart money VCs? * How long have they been doing it? Some corp VCs are fairweather VCs, i.e., they jump in when the market is hot but then bail. This can also be good as these guys tend to overpay * How painful was it to get the deal done? If the process to get investment was super painful, realizing the "strategic benefits" will probably be harder. * Have they had successful exits? Success persists in VC. If you're good, you tend to stay good (and vice versa) With regards to being good or bad, they are a heterogeneous group. So just like with most things in life (VCs, angels, plumbers, recruiters), there are good ones and bad ones. [1] http://www.cbinsights.com/blog/tech-corporate-venture-capital-balance-sheet http://www.cbinsights.com/blog/tech-corporate-venture-capita... [2] http://www.cbinsights.com/blog/corporate-venture-capital-q3-2013 http://www.cbinsights.com/blog/corporate-venture-capital-q3-...