In my early-stage venture capital fund, The BC Tech Fund, I invested in nine companies. About three years after the first investment, three of the nine had achieved early exits – one went public and two were acquired. • Brightside was acquired in February 2007 • Parasun was acquired in May 2007 • Metrobridge went [...]
Early Exits
When I first blogged about early exits in BC all of the comments were negative. This wasn’t surprising. A lot has been written about the negatives of startups being ‘built to flip”. The term has a negative connotation – as if something improper is being done. The most popular article on this topic, titled “Built [...]
Companies everywhere are being sold earlier and earlier. These days, acquisitions often happen before companies are two or three years old. Recent UBC research discovered that in British Columbia and Alberta, we are better at early exits than anywhere else in Canada or the US. In my early-stage venture capital fund, The BC Tech Fund, [...]
Whenever I hear an entrepreneur, or angel investor, say “early exit” they have a really big smile on their face. Even some of my VC friends beam when they talk about the jump in their returns if they’ve gotten lucky with an early exit. In my experience, almost everyone wins in an early exit – [...]
Companies are being acquired at earlier and earlier stages – often just 2 or 3 years from startup. Why is this happening now? A large part of the answer is that this is another natural consequence of the internet – part of the development of our economy and the evolution of our species. There are [...]
We are better at early exits in BC and Alberta than in any other province in Canada or state in the US. This conclusion came from an excellent research study led by Thomas Hellmann at the UBC Sauder School of Business. This was a significant research project conducted to the highest academic standards. Thomas and [...]
