In that dynamic, it's very hard to focus on an early-stage company, because you don't have the time. You're on too many boards. And you have too much money to put to work.
Inc.: How bad is the problem?
Quindlen: I think it's a breakdown. With less help, the entrepreneurs build less great companies. It's almost like when people can't spend time with their children: they buy them toys to make up for it. This is a little bit like that. You say, "I'll give you some more money."
Inc.: You're on eight boards.
Quindlen: Yes. I'm pressed to do a great job with those entrepreneurs. I think if you talk to them, they would say that I do give them time. I've said no to doing some tasks that they've asked me to do, which I thought they were perfectly right in asking me to do.
Inc.: Have venture capitalists become more competitive?
Quindlen: Much more competitive. It's no longer a gentlemen's club. It's just like investment banking. It's a head-to-head competitive business.
Inc.: When you entered the business in 1993, what return on an investment did venture capitalists expect, and how long was it supposed to take to make it?
Quindlen: I think that the expectation then was that it would be five to seven years, sometimes longer. And then if you got 10 times your money, you had conquered the world.
Inc.: And now?
Quindlen: Two to three years, 100 times your money.
Inc.: You describe Silicon Valley as a bubble.
Quindlen: It seems unique in all the world. It's a bit insulated in that way. People have tried to re-create Silicon Valleys in other cities or other countries, and they've never quite got the energy level and infrastructure and insanity that happens here -- that kind of go-for-broke, never-say-die, don't-stop mentality, which is really what's been happening here.
"Most venture capitalists are type-A personalities who tend to thrive on what's hard, stressful, and lonely."
The enormous number of new companies and new ideas and new entrepreneurs and energy level generated here every day is just incredible. It continues to grow. The wealth scale is off the charts: instant wealth; overnight wealth.
Inc.: It sounds intoxicating.
Quindlen: Oh, absolutely. My husband, who is also a venture capitalist, and I have made enough money that we could retire for life. And we agreed that if we were to do that, we would have to go away to Italy and draw, because there's no way we could live here and watch this on the sidelines. It would be torture. And, in fact, we have a house in Santa Fe. And we talk about Santa Fe: would it be far enough away? And I'm not sure it is.
Inc.: Yet you say that the life of a venture capitalist is hard, stressful, and lonely. It doesn't seem that great.
Quindlen: Most of the people who do it are type-A personalities who tend to thrive on what's hard, stressful, and lonely. It is great, but you have to love it. You have to love working with entrepreneurs and creating companies.
I had breakfast with one venture capitalist the other day. He said, "It's like drinking from a fire hose. It's just nonstop." Venture guys have dark circles under their eyes, and they all don't see their kids enough. And they've all made more money than they need for the rest of their lives. And yet, they run, run, run, every day. It's just kind of an addiction.
Inc.: You're a venture gal, not a venture guy. How well do you fit in?
Quindlen: The system is mainly men. The men don't really like it if the women don't speak up. They consider them shy or insecure or noncharismatic or whatever. But they are ambivalent if a woman is really forceful and makes decisions. Then they consider her a bitch or hard-ass or ball buster, or something like that.
Inc.: How have you walked that line?
Quindlen: I chose the latter category. I just decided that I was just going to go for it and be as aggressive as I had to be, as straightforward as I had to be, and as driven as I had to be. And certainly I have nothing to complain about. I've had more than enough opportunity in my life -- probably some given to me because I am a woman and some not given to me because I am.
Inc.: You talked earlier about today's fast-moving Internet environment. Are venture-backed companies pretty much limited to Internet plays?
Quindlen: To tell you the truth, there isn't anything we're doing now that isn't Internet related. I would hazard to say that what's happening to the Internet is affecting the old economy, too.
Inc.: Non-Internet companies need not apply.
Quindlen: That's exactly right. I don't think you're going to get any substantial funding today unless you have some play on the Net.
Inc.: Which kind of Net companies make sense to you and which do not?
Quindlen: Most of retail is not a very attractive business. Look at drugstores online: cotton balls and Q-tips. Are you going to pay $2 to buy those online? There are shipping costs, right?
