From time to time a new ranking of the VC must-read blogs appears on the internet. During the research for this post I went through many of them, some based on the number of unique visits some others on the author´s quality scale or personal preferences. As it turns out, the first fifteen positions are always taken by the same guys.
In a world where internet has taken over and leadership claims to be global
, it occurred to me to check the relationship between an active and prolific VC community (based on # of deals and $ invested) and the existence of VC thought leaders in that community.
California, Massachusetts, New York, Washington and Texas ranked in the top five positions in terms of venture capital invested based on the 2012 figures provided by the National Venture Capital Association (Colorado was 6th. Yay!). Let’s see who are the most relevant venture capital bloggers in these communities and what are they saying.
For the purposes of this post a state is considered a Community and blogger is a thought leader. In the VC world, bloggers aren’t just opinionated, they are professionals with years of experience.
1. California:
Eureka! We have found it, the world champion in Venture Capital based on number of deals and amount invested. Thus it doesn’t come as a surprise that it is also the winner for the number of relevant bloggers!
- David Hornik is considered the granddaddy of the VC bloggers. Ten years ago David blazed a trail for the VC industry publishing the first VC blogpost “I’m a VC. Who the hell are you”.
Area: Menlo Park / Silicon Valley
Firm: August Capital
Blog: Venture Blog.
- Mark Suster: Entrepreneur turned into VC that runs Bothsidesofthetable. Suster always tries to personalize his blogposts by drawing analogies from his own personal experiences, for example as he did in his importance of deal flow post.
Area: Los Angeles
Firm: GRP Partners
Blog: Bothsidesofthetable
- Paul Graham: Co-founder of the Y combinator and for many the “king” of bloggers. In his minimalist looking website you can find gripping essays (no blogposts) that won´t leave you indifferent, just check his last one on how to get startup ideas.
Area: Mountain View
Firm: Y Combinator
Blog: PaulGraham
- Chris Dixon: Entrepreneur and investor with a moderate style. Dixon is considered a “greater explainer of trends” and so he does in hardware startups.
Area: Menlo Park / Silicon Valley
Firm: Andreessen Horowitz.
Blog: CDixon
- Ben Horowitz: self declared a rap fanatic, Horowitz uses rap lyrics as prefaces of his blogs and doesn´t have a problem disclosing numbers and strategies. Check his last post on how to hire sales people.
Area: Menlo Park / Silicon Valley
Firm: Andreessen Horowitz
Blog: ben´s blog
The list doesn´t finish here it goes on and on with other brilliant bloggers such as Bill Gurley or Dave Mcclure. So it seems the most VC active state has the most active and relevant bloggers.
2. Massachusetts:
Meanwhile on the opposite coast, Massachusetts emerges as the second VC power.
- Rob Go, Lee Howe, David Beisel. These three VCs are the cofounders of Next View Ventures, but apart from sharing their company they also share a passion for blogging each one of them with a different style and point of view.
Area: Boston
Firm: Next View Ventures
Blog: Rob Go, Lee Howe, David Beisel
- Larry Cheng: cofounder of Volition Capital, Larry Cheng elaborates every year the VC Blog ranking by average of monthly unique views.
Area: Boston
Firm: Volition Capital
Blog: Thinking about Thinking.
3. New York:
With New York City as largest, richest and most influential regional economy in the United States, and Manhattan as the home to six major stock markets, venture capital is rapidly growing in this region.
- Fred Wilson: The raising voice for the New York Tech Scene. Famous for his blog section MBA Mondays with around 160 posts in MBA topics such as revenue models-gaming. His blog constitutes an enormous body of work and knowledge worth a deep dive in.
Area: New York
Firm: Union Square Ventures
Blog: AVC
- Charlie O’Donell: Community builder and strong believer of the sustainable humanization of business Why Communication with Investors is Important is his last post.
Area: New York
Firm: Brooklyn Ventures
Blog: Thisisgoingtobebig.com
4. Washington State
Nobody stood up in the Seattle community until the 7th of October of last year, when the VC Greg Gottesman wrote his first blogpost.
- Greg Gottesman:. The VC mixes personal opinions and experiences with business tips and life style advices in a looking promising blog.
Area: Seattle
Firm: Madrona
Blog: starkRavingVC.
5.Texas
“The exception that proves the rule?” With a GDP bigger than The Netherlands or South Korea Texas ranks the 15th economy in the world and the 5th state in VC investment… And there is nobody taking the lead out there in the bloggosphere… The more I think about the whys of this, the more my fingertips tingle for a new blogpost.
If you are reading this and you know of someone please let us know we will be happy to include a Texan blogger!
6. Colorado:
Yup! I know It´s out of the top 5 but…
- Brad Feld: In a mix between personal and professional thoughts Brad Feld has gained the respect of the VC and entrepreneur community not only in Colorado but also worldwide. Prolific, eclectic and sometimes controversial FeldThoughts is full of articles worth your time. Check out his last post on Software patents.
Area: Boulder
Firm: Foundry Group
Blog: Feld Thoughts
In a nutshell, in California, Massachusetts, New York and Colorado the equation seems to work and a high levels of investment are accompanied by well-know blog leaders spreading the word out. On the contrary, Texas and Washington don’t follow the pattern! Yes, on the internet area leadership is global, but to certain extent VC investments and communities are still local and so they are their know-how and customs. Texan and Washingtonian bloggers or bloggers-to-be raise your voice! We avid readers, entrepreneurs, innovators, angels and investors want to know and are waiting for you!
About the Author: Sara Rodriguez is the new Associate Director of the Rockies Venture Club. Please consider welcoming her and introducing yourself when you see her at RVC events.
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