What Software VCs Want Today

Prominent investors from Mohr Davidow Ventures, Sutter Hill Ventures and The Carlyle Group describe the high standards that drive software venture investment today.

By Maryann Jones Thompson, Sand Hill Group

Longtime technology business veteran Howard Anderson has been making news recently. He says the current venture capital model is dead and he’s quit investing in his venture funds.

The software startups that received $5.2 billion in venture backing during 2004 might beg to differ. Software continues to receive more venture dollars than any other sector in the U.S. And as new technologies and new business models continue to appear, most venture capitalists continue to see new financial opportunities in software startups.

At Software 2005, three veteran industry investors took the stage to discuss what software venture capitalists are looking for today.

Request Your Invite for Enterprise 2005

The industry’s most elite gathering of software executives is just two months away. Enterprise 2006 will be held August 7-9, 2005 in Pebble Beach, Calif. Enterprise 2005 and will gather 200 software CEOs and professionals to discuss the "New Opportunities." Adobe CEO Bruce Chizen and Symphony Technology Group’s Romesh Wadhwani will deliver keynote addresses. To request an invitation and find out more about the conference,
click here.

Perspectives on the M&A Movement

Last week, industry experts Erik Keller and Vinnie Mirchandani presented interesting opinions on the recent spate of software mergers in the SandHill.com Blog. This week, Mike Nevens posts his perspective. Read the SandHill.com blog >>

If you have a post for the SandHill.com blog, email us at editor@sandhill.com.

Poll: The Pace of Consolidation?

Software mergers continued last week, with Oracle buying TimesTen and CA buying Niku. How do you think the pace
of software M&A activity will change over the next 6 months?
Take our Pulse Poll >>.

Last week, readers gave us their two cents about the true level of commitment major IT vendors have to open source.
Click here to give your opinion and see the results.

Software Events this Week

Don’t forget to check the SandHill.com event calendar for the best in upcoming software industry gatherings. This week, IBD holds a panel on software M&A and VentureWire hosts its Enterprise Ventures summit in Redwood City, Calif. To post your organization’s gathering, visit the community page and click on "Want to post an event?" or email editor@sandhill.com.

Software 2005 Recaps

Visit Software2005.com for the entire spectrum of event information and proceedings, including podcasts, videos and presentations from speakers.

More at SandHill.com:

Read the most important enterprise software industry news of the week >>

Monitor the latest software venture capital deals >>

Size up last week's software M&A deals >>

See who’s made it to the top in our list of recent software executive appointments >>

Send us your feedback on this newsletter and the SandHill.com site... Email editor@sandhill.com

Parting Thought

"Never mistake activity for achievement."
- John Wooden

Courtesy of Malcolm Kusher, The Kushner Group

THIS WEEK'S SPONSOR

The SES Group is the leading, independent, Asia-based, fully-retained practice in executive search, with well-established offices in Taipei, Singapore, Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Los Angeles. Find out more at www.sesasia.com

SOFTWARE PULSE

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SandHill.com is published by Sand Hill Group, which provides investment and management advice to emerging leaders in the $600 billion enterprise software, services and solutions market. Sand Hill Group produces the Software and the Enterprise series of conferences for industry executives, and authors research reports on cutting-edge technology topics. Click here to find out more.

Business Strategy for Software Executives

June 13, 2005