On the structural disorder and bad investors

The debate about what is missing Russian venture market - money or a high-quality projects, is incorrect. It is easy to clarify the example of the concept of "structural unemployment". Unemployment rate can not be counted in the thousands of jobs to be created to solve the problem. May be the same number of vacancies for which people can not find - roughly 200 unemployed dental technicians may account for 300 vacancies of nurses. And no matter what stage of development, nor was the market, there are always startups seeking money, and investors are looking for start-ups. In the market model is initially "wired", that is not only bad investors and weak draft, but there is also a difference in views on development. And if the good in someone's opinion, the project does not fit the investor, it does not always mean that the investor does not understand his business. For example, take our fund, "Nanotech-Skolkovo": interest in investing in our party great, work experience is. Projects that appear to the market, too, is - "RUSNANO" since the end of the year expects to reach the total budget for projects in the entire 320 billion rubles. Moreover, we managed Regional Venture Fund of Moscow region two years ago has invested two projects related to nanotechnology. And a special fund until there is no adequate supply - instead of nanotechnologies offer, such as social networks with geolocation. Perhaps this is an interesting project, but this fund does not need it. And it turns out that the structural disorder on the market - it's not just a problem, but also a source of hope. After a cool start-up, even when the market falls, you still have a chance to find the fund that was not enough it was his. So that the statistics do not measure. Money - here. Objectively on the Russian money market still more than the projects. And that makes us different from other markets - in Europe hard to money and income in the U.S. venture capital industry in recent years generally have fallen almost 70%. Therefore, although the most powerful venture capital managers, as before, gathered in Silicon Valley, it has long ceased to be the venture's paradise. That is, there are professional investors, and the chances of a good project, however, not so much. It suffices to consider the case of a web service Evernote, turned into an international company with 7 million users, of which more than 200 thousand paid, and with 470% growth per year. They went around the entire Silicon Valley and have not received anything. The first money he managed to draw in Russia and Japan - at first they take a "Troika Dialog", then joined DOCOMO Capital. Only then came the "silicone investors» Morgenthaler Ventures and Sequoia Capital. To choose. But finding the money - not the only problem: in addition to the risks arising to the investor, there are also reverse the risks posed to the project due to the investor. Let me explain my thought. Everything in this world is cyclical in nature. About 10 years ago, Russia was the first rise in the venture capital industry and the U.S. have already started declining. And then we also began to decline. We can remember those considered promising projects, such as a search engine Aport or bookstore arcadia.ru. They are gone, and besides them, this cemetery has dozens of names. And many at the moment ceased to believe in everything in general - for example, doubted that survive "Yandex" or Mail.ru. But the crisis has passed - and they feel, to put it mildly, not bad. There is no start-up, which would not have survived several crises and everything always went smoothly. A business venture does not allow the corporate wars. At an oil well can drive the whole team - business will remain. In the division of property that will hopefully change, but still someone will buy the asset. In the venture capital asset largely immaterial, no people do not. Therefore, an investor can not only promote the project, but also to destroy the team. So for the survival of the project requires not only the demand for service and the team finished a punch - it is also important to the investor during the first storm, not bankrupt the company. That is, the creator of the project also needs risk management, as it is important not just to find the money, but also get them from "regular" investors.