John Cambier

Are IPOs dead? Not hardly, says Durham venture capitalist

Posted by John Cambier | Sep 4, 2014

Editor’s note: John Cambier is managing partner at IDEA Fund Partners in Durham, an investor in 17 companies (one acquired), 11 in the Triangle. DURHAM, N.C. – In the past couple of years, an unprecedented number of venture-backed companies have closed financings of $100M or more at valuations above $1 billion. This phenomenon has led to grumbling by some—most notably, Silicon Valley venture capitalist Marc Andreessen—that the “IPO is dying” and that individual investors are “missing out” on what used to be great opportunities to ride exciting young companies from their IPOs onward. His reasoning is that stifling regulations make...

The Death of the IPO: A Rebuttal

Posted by John Cambier | Sep 2, 2014

John Cambier is managing partner at IDEA Fund Partners in Durham, an investor in 17 companies (one acquired), 11 in the Triangle. In the past couple of years, an unprecedented number of venture-backed companies have closed financings of $100M or more at valuations above $1 billion. This phenomenon has led to grumbling by some – most notably, Silicon Valley venture capitalist Marc Andreessen – that the “IPO is dying” and that individual investors are “missing out” on what used to be great opportunities to ride exciting young companies from their IPOs onward. His reasoning is that stifling regulations make it costly and...

Opportunity vs. Necessity in Tech Entrepreneurship: A Counterpoint

Posted by John Cambier | May 19, 2014

John Cambier is a managing partner at IDEA Fund Partners, CFO of NC IDEA and an advisor to its grants program. He’s also a director on the boards of 71lbs of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Brightdoor Systems of Cary and Sarda Technologies of Durham. As I read the recent ExitEvent article “With Growing Economy and Entrepreneurial Ecosystem, Is North Carolina Bucking a National Trend?”, I felt the need to respond with some of my own views on the topic. First, the Kauffman Foundation is great, but the researchers there observe and serve a much broader universe of entrepreneurs than I...

Why One VC Hates the Triangle's Best Place to Live Status

Posted by John Cambier | Apr 15, 2014

Lister Delgado is a founder and general partner at IDEA Fund Partners. He is passionate about entrepreneurship and company formation, and has been an early stage investor and advisor to entrepreneurs since 2001. Currently, Lister serves on the board as director or observer of nine portfolio companies: Argyle Social, Automated Insights, Distil Networks, GradSave, NextRay, Oncoscope, Pendo.io, Physcient and Windsor Circle. When ExitEvent asked me to write about a topic of interest to the entrepreneurial community in this region, I immediately had an idea. It’s one of my biggest pet peeves—why I hate it when magazines list the Triangle...