This afternoon I had the privilege of leading a panel discussion on future trends in venture capital, as part of Brad Bertoch's Investors Choice Conference hosted by the Wayne Brown Institute (read Tim Stay's extensive coverage of the event on VCSmart). We had hoped to get some clear vision into the future, but at least we came away with a fair image of the present and a good picture of the recent past.
The real question that we wanted answered is what is the next big thing? Corley Phillips of American River Ventures responded jestingly, by quoting a notable VC, that "I wouldn't answer that if you were my mother." Of course, every VC's hope is to find the next big thing--all alone--and to make that 100 fold return--just once (or twice).
We did discuss some arenas like VOIP, nanotechnology and web 2.0. These are areas where lots of money has been made, begging the question are there any opportunities remaining? The point was made in response that venture capitalists are unlikely to back another Skype or Vonage, but that doesn't mean that there aren't opportunities to develop VOIP related technologies that will move the migration of Internet telephony forward. The key for entrepreneurs is to find a relevant spot on which to push.
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