The South Should Follow Suit

Well leave it up to the crew on the left coast to create something –  well overwhelming.  Muri Milner and Ron Conway are teaming together to offer EVERY Y-Combinator startup – 40 of them – all of them – investment money.  Here are some of the terms

They haven’t even seen most of the startups yet. This is a bet on the quality of Y Combinator startups in general.

All of the new Y Combinator entrepreneurs gathered at Y Combinator headquarters in Mountain View California on Friday evening to hear about the offer, They weren’t told why they were supposed to be there, just that something important was happening. The SV Angel team was there in person. Milner joined from Europe by video conference.

The terms? $150,000 in convertible debt. With no cap and no discount. If you’re an investor you know exactly what that means and you just shuddered a little. Those aren’t terms that most angels can match.

Ok I can hear it now.  Well they have had a head start they can afford it.  Guess what I am tired of that parrot talk.  You know what?  There is some of the oldest and most money in the South and North for that matter.  Let me change this – EAST COAST should follow suit.  Yet they will not.  its too compartmentalized over here on the “right coast”.  Let me illustrate:

1. New York – Ad mafia folks.  Good money but once again always looking for ad related tech.

2. Boston – if your across the river from MIT forget it.

3. Washington, DC. – contractor and skunkwerks

4. Atlanta, GA – trying to be the epicenter of the SE

and really that is about it.  How do I know?  Over the years I have probably been in direct contact with over 90 VCs ranging from so called seed to growth funding. Really the biggest and best investment I have seen lately come out of the right coast is from Brian O’Kelly’s shop AppNexus and rightfully so yet think about the magnitude of what Milner and Conway are going to create.  I know for a fact and will not illustrate here that there is a ton of money on the right coast.  Further there is a ton of money in the South.  Couple that with our quality life and Charleston, SC could be an epicenter for technology.  Yet a long time ago in a land faraway I was criticized for saying that the Seed money on the east coast is like Series A on the west coast as far as timelines.

I am worried that the left coast is going to come get all the talent on the right coast and especially in The South and call it INSHORING.

Maybe I’ll save that for another blog.