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So You Want to Be a Venture Capitalist

BY all rights Stewart Alsop should have been a terrific venture capitalist. So why did Mr. Alsop, long considered a cyber-prophet among technology leaders, wash out in a profession in which he seemed predestined to succeed?

In recent months, as venture capital firms have announced the formation of new investment funds, a hot topic among the Silicon Valley cognoscenti has been the exodus of "tourist V.C.’s," as people from nonfinancial backgrounds are known here. Some have left the field because they did not pick enough winners; others have gone on to pursue different projects. Whatever the reason, there are hundreds fewer venture capitalists around today than just two years ago.

The business of financing start-ups, it turns out, may not be as easy as it seems. "There are Darwinian characteristics to venture capital," said C. Richard Kramlich, a founding partner at New Enterprise Associates, a top Valley firm that hired Mr. Alsop in 1996. "Below the surface there’s a huge amount of turnover."

At first Mr. Alsop seemed destined for venture capital greatness. But for him and others who made the leap into venture capital in the second half of the 1990’s, the experience proved humbling.

By GARY RIVLIN

Full Story: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/22/business/yourmoney/22venture.html?ex=1117425600&en=b03e4180c81f279a&ei=5040&partner=MOREOVERNEWS

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