Marcelo Calbucci

    After TechFlash broke the news of entrepreneur-turned-VC Rob Monster closing his venture capital “branch” to focus on his startups, there was a flurry of ill-informed or just plain nasty comments on the blog post. That triggered this question on my head: Can successful entrepreneurs become successful VCs? That question got a bit more steam after I thought all the criticism Ignition Partners has received due to their “lack of entrepreneurial experience” over the last couple of years (maybe more).

    Let me ask you a question: Can a great doctor become a great teacher? Or, can a great teacher become a great engineer? Or, can a great actor become a great singer?

    There is no question on my mind that great entrepreneurs can become great venture capitalists and vice-versa, but that doesn’t mean that it’s guaranteed path to success. The skill set to be a great entrepreneur is different than the skill set to be a great venture capitalist. We all like to point success stories of people that are good at both, but I find that correlation irrelevant. I much rather prefer to get funding from a VC that has a track record of investing on successful companies, than from a successful entrepreneur-turned-VC that has yet to prove he has the “eye”. At the same token, I prefer a serial successful entrepreneur investing on my company than a wealthy doctor that has no clue about startups.

    I think VCs need a good eye at spotting a good deal, not a good knowledge on how to bring a product to market. VCs won’t be running the business for you, so if they know how to setup payroll, or how to prepare a balance sheet, or how to manage a 25-person startup is irrelevant. They won’t be doing that. At best, they will help with strategic thoughts and introductions, besides funding, of course. I’ll even say that a VC who has too much “hands on” experience might be the opposite of you need as an entrepreneur.

    And just to finalize I feel really bad Rob Monster couldn’t make his model work at this time because he tried something every innovative in startup investing. And I also feel strange that every time anyone blogs or comments on Ignition they are quick to point out Entellium and other Ignition failures, but they never mentioned their successes. Ignition has absolutely a brand issue in town, but for the smart people you have to know the “news” is what people want to read, not necessarily the reality.

Disclaimer: I have no affiliation and never done business with Rob Monster or Ignition.