this is great news. I was introduced to Shawn some time ago but we never managed to meet up due to scheduling conflicts.

i am loosely associated with a group that might submit - might need to ask shawn for an extension though!

webinnovators run by Beisel at Venrock would be a great partner as well

wtf? this is truly baffling.

come on. i am not a VC but this is mindless bluster. what this post actually said is that with a bit of luck some of the more 'financially engineered' folks in his industry will drop off.

but whats wrong with working hard? whats wrong with your partner and you profiting from your hard work? whats wrong with both parties paying a collective penalty for failing? (alot actually!)

what always amuses me is when entrepreneurs take the attitude like you do in hard times. do you think for a moment that a VC in any way benefits from layoffs, bad management and foolish spending? his work on the company likely triples, his value probably halves, and his friction increases.

fred wilson (actually his partner to be fair) was waxing about arbitrage - the reason you are somewhat imune to current events is that you are not a primary participant in this arbitrage destruction. You actually create value (theoretically) you are not trading the delta between tow value points of equal characteristic. Venture is a great place to be. Especially if you love it as you clearly do.