Wednesday, April 29, 2009

VCs: Southern California Startups Not Just Content

Southern California's venture capital industry isn't just content and media, but is gaining a reputation for companies who "actually know how to make money,"--or so says Highland Capital's Richard de Silva. Speaking on a panel on Venture Capital in Hollywood at AlwaysOn's OnHollywood conference yesterday, de Silva said he's now seeing repeat entrepeneurs coming out of Southern California who are just as good, if not savvier about real businesses, as Silicon Valley. de Silva, who is a General Partner at Highland based out of its Menlo Park offices, pointed specifically to companies like LowerMyBills, eHarmony, and MySpace. He echoed the sentiment of DFJ Frontier's David Cremin, who said the industry here has grown quite a bit since he started 11 years ago. Cremin said that when he started, few people understood the rules of the "equity economy." Now, he says he sees lots of second and third time entrepreneurs who "know how to play the game." de Silva and Cremin joined a panel, which also included Richard Wolpert of the Mail Room Fund and which was moderated by Craig Collar of Morgan Stanley.

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