Over the course of almost five decades, famed investor Alan Patricof has seen a lot of changes take place in the venture capital industry. However, a lot has stayed the same, and sometimes it's to the detriment of startups.
At today's Shift NYC event, held at the Convene Conference Center in midtown Manhattan, keynote speaker Paticof — founder of Greycroft Partners — summed up the challenges that often come with doing business with the corporate-investor side.
The octogenarian recalled his early days as a venture capitalist (he got his start in 1969), when big corporations like General Electric and Xerox first started sourcing deals in the startup space. Exxon was also investing at the time, putting proxies on the boards of early-stage companies.
Read Complete Article