Singularity University, now in the middle of its second year of classes over the course of ten weeks in Silicon Valley, held a panel on Financing the Future last night at Kicklabs in SOMA.
Singularity University is an interdisciplinary university whose mission is to assemble, educate and inspire leaders who strive to understand and facilitate the development of exponentially advancing technologies in order to address humanity’s grand challenges. Singularity University hopes to stimulate groundbreaking, disruptive thinking and solutions aimed at solving some of the planet’s most pressing challenges.
Some observations from the panelists below, which included First Round Capital’s Rob Hayes, Transmedia Capital’s Michael Downing, David Rose with Rose Tech Ventures and Eghosa Omoigui, formerly with Intel Capital.
Eghosa Omoigui
“When you’re thinking of funding sources, think about your options very broadly. Think of alternatives — companies as well. It’s easy to get enamored with a new technology, but you can’t get too far from Economics 101. You must keep economics in mind all the way through. In green tech or biofuels, ask yourself, what does it substitute? What’s the pay back? You have to have a multiplying effect on investment return – always think in the back of your mind – how will the economics work?”
“Think of investors who have the capacity to ride and take you through a lot of ups and downs. Look for people who understand they need to ride it out. Intel would invest in downside times when things are cheaper. There’s one ting that is certain in my view – the cycles are becoming more and more compressed. It used to be 10-15 year cycles and now it’s closer to 5-7 years. Where there’s finance frenzy, it’s easy to get out of control. Be very pragmatic how you build things out.”
Rob Hayes
In advice to students on raising capital for longer term investment ideas, “Venture capitalists don’t like to make investments with ten year returns – they want a return faster than that. If you have an idea that will take longer than ten years, you probably don’t want to go through a VC.”
On where the future of finance is going, “You’re going to see lots of little opportunities to make money, which will create opportunities for smaller investors. Every time a bell rings, a seed fund is getting started.”
“The permanent shift of what is happening is in information technology. You needed $5 million to start a company and now you can start a company on a weekend with a credit card.”
“Look at restaurant deals versus a synthetic biology deals. The restaurant deal is cool; it’s a ‘feel good’ investment and you can get side benefits versus something that will take a long time to get an exit, like a synthetic biology venture.”
Michael Downing
In advice to students on raising capital for longer term investment ideas, “If you’re working on something that will take longer than ten years to yield a return, venture capitalists tend not to want to look at those since it could involve $100 million and a long wait. If you have something that will change an industry ‘forever’ and if you want to do something that is a game changer, then you do have value in something that is that disruptive. If may not be clear how you’ll be worth $100 million in a few years, but there is value in being a disruptor,” or what he refers to as a “shift storm.”
“To become more relevant, people are outsourcing more. Pharmaceutical and media industries are built on the outsource model now. Things have really changed – hedge funds, individuals, corporations, venture capitalists and more and more seed funds are now funding things – it’s growing and making it so much easier for you to get your ideas funded.”
David Rose
“You’ll see a decentralization of money now and a move in this direction more and more. The role of the broker is changing. Levels are coming down….it is so much easier to start a company today. You’ll see an explosion of individuals investing. What happens when you have millions of angels and thousands of seed funds? Then what?”
Renee Blodgett is the founder of We Blog the World. The site combines the magic of an online culture and travel magazine with a global blog network and has contributors from every continent in the world. Having lived in 10 countries and explored nearly 80, she is an avid traveler, and a lover, observer and participant in cultural diversity.
She is also the CEO and founder of Magic Sauce Media, a new media services consultancy focused on viral marketing, social media, branding, events and PR. For over 20 years, she has helped companies from 12 countries get traction in the market. Known for her global and organic approach to product and corporate launches, Renee practices what she pitches and as an active user of social media, she helps clients navigate digital waters from around the world. Renee has been blogging for over 16 years and regularly writes on her personal blog Down the Avenue, Huffington Post, BlogHer, We Blog the World and other sites. She was ranked #12 Social Media Influencer by Forbes Magazine and is listed as a new media influencer and game changer on various sites and books on the new media revolution. In 2013, she was listed as the 6th most influential woman in social media by Forbes Magazine on a Top 20 List.
Her passion for art, storytelling and photography led to the launch of Magic Sauce Photography, which is a visual extension of her writing, the result of which has led to producing six photo books: Galapagos Islands, London, South Africa, Rome, Urbanization and Ecuador.
Renee is also the co-founder of Traveling Geeks, an initiative that brings entrepreneurs, thought leaders, bloggers, creators, curators and influencers to other countries to share and learn from peers, governments, corporations, and the general public in order to educate, share, evaluate, and promote innovative technologies.
