[via Venture Intelligence India] Retroblogs:
Bessemer Venture Partners has a link on it's website of something that they call as Anti-portfolio. Contains a few names of the businesses they had opportunity to invest, but did not.
With names like Apple, Fedex, Google, Intuit, eBay, Intel, PayPal on its list, BVP has a very impressive Anti-portfolio. And it's interesting to see that they're so upfront about it.
BVP says:
Our reasons for passing on these investments varied. In some cases, we were making a conscious act of generosity to another, younger venture firm, down on their luck, whom we felt could really use a billion dollars in gains. In other cases, our partners had already run out of spaces on the year's Schedule D and feared that another entry would require them to attach a separate sheet.
But:
BVP passed on Federal Express seven times.
So I am inclined to think that BVP's explanation is pure bollocks! No one gives away a billion dollars! (Bill G doesn't count.) (And what's a Schedule D?)
What now puzzles me is, if they had such a lame explanation for not investing in these companies, why did they publicise this Anti-Portfolio in the first place? Perhaps the purpose was simply to poke fun at themselves. If so, bravo. Their introductory paragraph hints:
Bessemer Venture Partners is perhaps the nation's oldest venture capital firm, carrying on an unbroken practice of venture capital investing that stretches back to 1911. This long and storied history has afforded our firm an unparalleled number of opportunities to completely screw up.
Any insiders/affiliates want to comment?
Link: Missed Opportunities
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