startups that did a quick burst presentation for us the end of the night, travel startup Hopper, picked Boston to move to over Silicon Valley in part because it was easier to find engineering talent in New England.
4. Speaking of the Valley: “This whole thing of East Coast vs. West Coast, I’m starting to think it’s a dead issue,” says Jeff Fagnan. “I think Boston’s coming back.”
But maybe not. Bohn described his “recipe for success” as raising a Series A round in Boston, and a B round in Silicon Valley.
5. When asked by Patrick how they evaluate a deal and pick who to bet their money on, each VC on the panel revealed slightly different criteria:
Leandov says he looks for “some form of transformational technology or services that can enter the market and change the market.”
For Fagnan, “We spend the most time thinking about the market. It’s the factor that has the biggest effect on the overall outcome.”
And Bohn: “I tend to be more entrepreneur centric. Who’s the guy who’s leading the business, who’s got the tiger in his eye. It’s never a straight path. It’s sort of an art, but not a science.”
The rest concurred on that last point. Even with these strategies, “we are wrong 70 percent of the time,” says Levandov. “If we bat .300 as a venture firm, we’re going to do great.”
And speaking of baseball, go Red Sox.
