Just Linking Around?

*** Peter Rip suggests that the recent uptick in VC return data might be more smoke than mirror (its the realizations, stupid). Apparently Peter hasnt been paying attention to his BusinessWeek cover headlines.

*** Going Private has lots of thoughts on the predicted death of private equity. The keyrun-on sentencecomes near the end: If I were a limited partner evaluating LBO funds to invest in, I would look for small, focused funds with under $3 billion, and preferably under $1.5 billion, that weren’t going to get rich on their management fee, that had good turnaround talent, actual management talent and not just financial structuring gurus, on the bench.

*** Jeff Bussgang suggests that VCs should remove their Blackberries before meeting with entrepreneurs. Specifically, he thinks they should be dropped into a pail.

*** Brad Burnham on how VC-backed companies (or at least USV-backed companies) should have the potential to change market structure, not simply benefit from existing market structure.

*** Lauren Rae Rilva argues that the Alien Tech IPO failed not simply because of its balance sheet, but because of its CFO.

*** Just to be clear, the problems at ITU Ventures are specific to its third, and most recent, fund. The firms first two funds will continue to operate and are not facing LP termination (hat tip: ITU Ventures attorney).