that in life there are winners and losers, and in the end we need to back the winners… That is why I always suggest to entrepreneurs and startup executives to choose their next gig wisely.”
Among San Diego’s life sciences VCs, Forward Ventures’ Ivor Royston (a San Diego Xconomist) tells me: “You always have to evaluate ‘what was the reason for the failure?’ Oftentimes, [biotech founders] are much more valuable having been through that… For repeated failures, yes, it is a problem. But certainly a single failure is not an issue, unless it is attributable to the individual.”
Drew Senyei of Enterprise Partners Venture Capital (who also is a San Diego Xcnomist) sounded a similar theme, saying, “It does not matter where you are—Seattle or San Diego or San Antonio—if you have a failure the money source (which is often from San Francisco) looks at the merit of the current idea and the reason for the past failure.” For example, Senyei says, “If it was a drug that failed in Phase 2, that is not the fault of the CEO, it is just Mother Nature winning that hand. I have not had a series A startup that has not gone to a series B— after that is another story!”
Among San Diego’s startup CEOs who have experienced both success (iPivot) and failure (AirFiber), Brett Helm writes in an e-mail, “Most people fail because they follow a business plan—because most inexperienced entrepreneurs think that’s what the investors want them to do. WRONG. Investors want to make money so you have to adapt. It doesn’t matter what you do as long as you create value so they (investors) make money.” Helm adds that the No. 1 rule for startup CEOs is to never lose your credibility. “If you maintain your credibility,” Helm says, “a business failure can be overcome.”
Still, “it is much easier to get a startup company off the ground in Silicon Valley than it is in a town like San Diego or Seattle,” says Mike Krenn, managing director of the DLA Piper law firm’s venture pipeline. Krenn says the bar to get venture funding is simply much higher in San Diego for a number of reasons.
“One, there are literally hundreds and hundreds of sources of capital” in Silicon Valley, according to Krenn. “On the IT side, we have less than five (and that’s being liberal) sources of venture capital with physical offices in San Diego. In Silicon Valley, you have over 300 funds. There are just a lot more doors you can possibly wedge open.
“Two,” Krenn says, “It is simply easier for a fund to investigate a company in its own back yard, than it is to travel back and forth on Southwest to look at a San Diego investment.
“Three, should you actually invest in a target company, it is easier to watch over your investment, and meet with the management team regularly, if you’re a car drive away, rather than a San Diego flight away.
“Four,” Krenn says, “there are just so many more opportunities to open up customer and partner relationships,” given the number of large companies that are based in Silicon Valley and that are accustomed to working with startups. Krenn concludes, “It is easier for startups to gain market traction if they are physically located in Silicon Valley.”
Of course, those also sound like four good reasons to address the scarcity of hometown venture capital firms in San Diego.
