Bill Maris

During the 2000 bubble, many companies rushed to go public before they had any revenue. ”

If I were to leave and raise a venture fund, I would have to find 10 or 100 LPs. They would all give me a bunch of money, and I would take a percentage of that to pay myself. They would expect me to invest that over the next three years, and they want that money back in seven or eight years. ”

Back in the late 1990s, venture capitalists got very excited about the Internet. A whole lot of money was poured into some companies that failed rather spectacularly, and a lot of people lost a lot of money. ”

Google Ventures has a direct financial incentive to ensure the companies we invest in succeed. ”

With a regular venture fund, you raise, let's say, a billion dollars, and then over the next three or four years, you've got to invest that money; otherwise, the people who invested with you will say, 'What are you doing? You're just collecting fees on our money.' ”

Silicon Valley has been a technology capital like New York is a financial capital. ”

Venture funds get beaten up for not investing in important things. Okay, if you want venture funds to invest in important things, then don't penalize or make fun of them when those important things don't work. ”

I'm not bothered when other VCs start hiring great designers or start recruiting. That's the direction I'd like it to go. ”

There are a number of start-ups in Europe that are able to reach beyond their own country. Take Spotify - Spotify just in Sweden isn't that interesting compared to Spotify all over the world. ”

When you build relationships with entrepreneurs, they're not trying to optimize on price. ”