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Benchmark: Not Dead Yet
from the staying-alive dept
In the last few weeks there's been a lot of talk in Silicon Valley about Benchmark Capital. People who used to think that they were the kings of the new economy VC firms. They had a huge win in eBay, and had picked a bunch of other "sure" wins. They even had a book written about them. Then, e-commerce went bad, and everyone started whispering that Benchmark was done. Last week someone (who worked at a Benchmark funded company) told me they heard that Benchmark wasn't going to do any new investments and their limited partners were pissed off. Now, Benchmark is fighting back saying the rumors of its demise are highly exaggerated. There's some evidence in the article that this is true. I also think it's important to note that these things definitely do take time, and its typical for VCs to have a lot of failures on the books. That's how it works.
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The e-boys
I've read a lot about benchmark (I even know a few guys in some of their companies) and I have to admit that I'm a bit of a fan in their investment style. It can be a little riskier than other VC's feel comfortable with but in general they tend to invest in some great companies (I'm not talking about individual funds but of the firm as a whole).
I wouldn't worry too much about benchmark, they'll most likely survive the shake out. Although, I know of one or two others that might as well have targets drawn on them (I'm not a fan of Apax partners).
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