NASHUA, NH—In January 2008, Laser Focus World online began hosting ‘Larry’s VC View’, the bi-weekly blog at www.laserfocusworld.com (follow the LARRY’S VC VIEW BLOG link on the top navigation menu) from entrepreneur and budding venture capitalist Larry Marshall. Marshall started as a scientist and engineer, turned into an entrepreneur, and has now become a venture capitalist (VC). As he puts it, “I have seen the worst of times, and the best, and the worst again, and again. . . . Hopefully I can share my worst mistakes and help fellow entrepreneurs avoid them. Also, I will try to share what I learn on the journey to becoming a VC to give an insight into that world as well.”
Marshall shares his experiences and advice on how to commercialize technology, raise money, engage VCs, and gives examples of companies and markets and mistakes, and thoughts and reflections on the VC scene. He also gives a unique insight into what happens inside the partners meetings when investment decisions are made, to help entrepreneurs achieve success in their VC engagement.
Marshall’s goal for the online blog is to stimulate discussion and questions from fellow engineers and scientists who are on the path to starting their own business. He encourages readers to post topics for future blogs and pose questions facing them in their quest to commercialize their technology. Titles of previous blog entries provide some insight into the content covered and include “Do You Want to be Rich or King?,” “Share Market Crash: Timing is Everything!,” “The Deal that Died,” and most recently, “Typical Deals—Is there such a thing?” and “Valuation, Valuation, It’s a Rage Across the Nation…”
Having lived in the U.S. for the past 18 years, Marshall founded 6 successful companies in biotechnology, photonics, and semiconductors—two of which achieved successful IPOs, and the remainder resulted in high-return trade sales. Born in Sydney Australia, Marshall received his BS Honors from Macquarie University (Sydney), and his PhD from the Commonwealth Centre of Excellence. He holds 18 patents and has over 100 publications and presentations to his credit.
He recently completed the first IPO of a Silicon Valley company on the Australian exchange, and is now a Partner at the first Australian financed Venture fund to operate in Silicon Valley, leveraging his entrepreneurial experience to help budding companies find their niche in Silicon Valley. To contact Marshall, send an email to [email protected].
