|
|
||||||||
| Cycle |
|
Organization |
|
Total |
|
to Dems |
|
to Repubs |
|
|
||||||||
| 2002 election cycle |
|
Sequoia Capital |
|
$195,271 |
|
- |
|
$195,271 |
|
|
||||||||
| 2000 election cycle |
|
Sequoia Capital |
|
$420,000 |
|
- |
|
$420,000 |
|
|
||||||||
| 1998 election cycle |
|
- |
|
- |
|
- |
|
- |
Now read the article:
Veteran venture capitalist foresees plenty of start-up opportunities
By Rick Merritt, EE Times
May 16, 2003 (5:32 p.m. EST)
URL: http://www.theworkcircuit.com/story/OEG20030516S0048
SAN JOSE, Calif. — It's a great time to start a new high tech company despite the current economic malaise, said a veteran venture capitalist in a talk at the TieCon 2003 conference here Friday (May 16). Cellular phone, Internet and even PC markets still hold plenty of opportunities for start-ups, said Donald Valentine, founder of Sequoia Capital who helped finance companies such as Apple, Oracle and Cisco.
Pointing to seven major recessions in the U.S. since 1921, Valentine told an audience of some 2,000 entrepreneurs they should "stop worrying about the economy" and form new companies. Recessions will come and go, but the time is ripe for new ventures, he said.
"Sand Hill Road is awash with money. Buildings are available at unprecedented rental rates. Every aspect of the infrastructure is in place, and we haven't been so interested in hearing your ideas since 1995," Valentine said.
China, although the country with the largest installed base of cellphones, has years of growth ahead before all its 1.5 billion citizens have handsets. The personal computer market "may be just building strength for yet a new level of growth beyond what was started when we helped form Apple in 1977," Valentine added.
While VCs financed many ill-advised companies during the Internet boom—a third of which are now gone—many companies such as Amazon, eBay, Google and Yahoo did rise to prominence as a result of the Web which still holds much opportunity, he said.
"I'd encourage you to think of the Internet as a humongous banquet that takes years to complete. We have just finished the first hors d'oeuvres of that banquet. And already for businesses it's a trillion-dollar industry and for consumers its approaching $100 billion in 2003," Valentine added.
The man who helped finance Steve Jobs pointed to Apple's recent launch of its iTunes Web music service as one significant new horizon.
"The music business is controlled by less than half a dozen companies working to the disadvantage of both artists and their own customers. Napster was their wake up call. It will be very interesting to see what the industry's response is to Apple becoming a distributor of music," he said.