
Where IS Guy Kawasaki's Garage Ventures in the pecking order? - brett

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brett
He seems pretty well respected due to his writings, but I don't have any sense
of what people think of Garage. I recognize a few names:
http://www.garage.com/portfolio/index.shtml, but they're not on the list that
Paul compiled: http://ycombinator.com/topvcs.html

Does YC have a relationship with them?

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pg
That's not my list; that's just the list of names I got from asking people I
know. There are a few firms on it that I haven't met partners from personally,
and quite a lot of partners I know who didn't make the list. We don't have an
official relationship with any VC firm, but we did invite GK to Demo Day.

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JMiao
Guy gave a fantastic talk at Stanford a few weeks ago. I'll admit that I was
initially skeptical given the many posts that have appeared on the web
questioning his track record. In response Valleywag's sarcastically-titled
"Guy's Golden Touch," Guy had this to say:

"It's not really Guy's golden touch. It's more like 'anything golden, Guy
touches.'"

In all seriousness, though, my first-hand experience with Guy has given me a
lot of confidence in him as a VC. He's frank about his own professional
experiences, going as far as to count his time at Apple a "failure" because
Apple never realized their initial goal of dominating the personal computer
business.

I understand how track record plays a role in fundraising, but too many people
overestimate a VC's track record and underestimate personal attention/advice.
This isn't to say that the big VCs aren't good -- one of Sequoia's partners
gave me great advice when I was a sophomore in college -- but I think that
there is a false pretense amongst startups that raising money from big-name
investors is somehow in itself a measure of success (it's like being proud of
your mortgage).

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juwo
"(it's like being proud of your mortgage)."

that was funny!

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JMiao
Thanks. I do my best to keep it interesting on YC News.

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staunch
Guy said Garage is a $20 million fund. Other VCs do single deals for more than
that. I think he's a straight shooter with upper VC stardom written all over
him.

His interview with Venture Voice talked a lot about Garage and he was very
candid:

http://www.venturevoice.com/2006/10/vv_show_39_guy_kawasaki_of_gar.html

