Coastal VC firms see investment opportunity in Midwest companies

A Californian venture capitalist involved in a recent Ann Arbor deal expects the Midwest to draw increasing attention from coastal VC executives as deals in traditional tech hotspots become saturated with attention.

Alison de Bord, director of San Francisco-based Alta Partners, sought to debunk the traditional thinking that coastal venture capitalists aren’t willing to seek out investments in historical "fly-over" states such as Michigan.

Alta Partners, which manages a $500 million fund focusing on life sciences and IT investments, recently invested in Esperion Therapeutics after Ann Arbor entrepreneur Roger Newton announced he had acquired the firm from Pfizer Inc.

by Nathan Bomey | Ann Arbor Business Review

Full Story: http://www.mlive.com/businessreview/annarbor/index.ssf/2008/05/coastal_vc_firms_see_investmen.html

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by Nathan Bomey | Ann Arbor Business Review

Nathan Bomey

The only thing venture capitalists value more than their money is their time.

I attended several panel discussions at the 27th Michigan Growth Capital Symposium from May 14-15, and I was repeatedly reminded of that truism.

It explains, of course, why most Michigan entrepreneurs feel like their chances of securing coastal VC investment is next to none. The theory is that venture capitalists won’t fly to the Midwest to fund a deal when they can do a similar deal in their back yard.

However, we are gradually seeing the traditional "fly-over" states gain traction in the struggle to attract more attention to this region.

Full Story: http://www.mlive.com/businessreview/annarbor/index.ssf/2008/05/nathan_bomey_tips_from_the_pro.html

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VCs and Deal Flow: Seeing Everything, Doing (Nearly) Nothing

The VC business is a funny one and, in my sixth year at it, I am amazed at how much I am still learning with time. One of the fascinating things about the business is the way VCs process deals, known in the vernacular as "deal flow".

Full Story: http://bostonvcblog.typepad.com/vc/2008/05/vcs-and-deal-flow-seeing-everything-doing-nearly-nothing.html

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Many thanks to the National Association of Seed and Venture Funds http://www.nasvf.org for passing these stories along. You can view their full newsletter here: http://nasvf.org/web/netnews.nsf/NetNews?OpenView&start=1&count=30