An Investor on the Management TeamAn Investor on the Management Team
March 1, 2005
Originally Published MX March/April 2005
BUSINESS PLANNING & TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT
Investors get involved in day-to-day product development operations and problem solving in various ways—some not at all. The investors consulted for this article offer several perspectives on when and how to weigh in.
Generally, investors restrict themselves to board-level activity. "We're not operators," says Tom Dickerson, chairman of Tullis Dickerson & Co. (Greenwich, CT). "We rely heavily on management." Investor and board member Mike Carusi, a general partner at Advanced Technology Ventures (Palo Alto, CA), seconds Dickerson. "It's not our role to micromanage the management team. It is our role to make sure that the team has set clear timelines and objectives, and to monitor how the team performs against those objectives." Says Allan Ferguson, East Coast operations managing director of 3i Corp. (Palo Alto, CA), "As a value-added investor, we try to give advice and counsel where we have an opinion that will matter. We don't second-guess the management team every step of the way. Knowing when not to meddle is important."
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