Startup tech companies often seek big companies for funding or acquisition deals, and Google Ventures is the best place to go as of 2013.
Many big tech companies sponsor or create wings dedicated solely to providing venture capital to smaller, more nimble startup tech companies. It gives them the ability to invest their capital in new talent and possibly work in a deal to take advantage of new tech developments while they are still in their infancy.
The relationship is mutually beneficial; startup tech companies get the funding and attention they need to keep innovating and growing, while giant corporations get a flavor of the agility and innovation they probably lost ages ago. And while Google is certainly no stranger to innovation, even now at their largest, their hunger for startups makes them one of the most notable corporate venture capitalists in the world.
Eliza Kern, a tech writer, recently published a report comparing the venture capital arms of several major corporations to determine which are the most significant for startup tech entrepreneurs to woo. The results of the study indicated Google Ventures was far and away the most generous and most active of all the venture capitalist branches studied. Other contenders included Intel Capital, Qualcomm Ventures, In-Q-Tel, and Novartis Venture Funds.
Big corporations need the energy and the tech developments of their smaller, nimbler counterparts in order to stay alive in the ever-changing industry. As a tech entrepreneur, you need to be critically aware of this. Eventually, you’ll need to form an end game strategy for your organization. That could mean keeping the company alive and passing it to someone else, it could mean becoming a bulky tech company yourself, or it could mean seeking this kind of venture capital or an acquisition from a major corporation.
In order to position yourself as a contender for these types of programs, you’ll need to run down a lengthy checklist of best practices. It takes a specific type of strategy to look appealing to these types of companies, and there’s no guarantee of funding even if you follow it perfectly, so it might be better in the long run to keep your company driven and successful and wait for the capitalists to come to you.
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