There Are No Called Strikes in Venture Capital

The Wall Street Journal On line has an article today siting the 10 Richest Venture Backed Companies of All Time.  Of the finalists, we had opportunities to invest in four of them during their winding path through the capital markets.  Of those four, we invested in one--a relative bust--and passed on three.  Of the three, one is clearly on a path to success, but i won't mention it because of course VC's don't call strikes on themselves, at least not publicly. 

However, each of us has passed on something that turned out to be great, in some cases really great. If you're an entrepreneur pitching a VC, the next time you're alone with her/him (after they've bloviated about the best deal they ever done) ask them to tell you about the best deal they ever passed on.  It'll tell you what they're looking for in your deal that they missed on the one that got away.

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