Hot prospects: Top 10 VCs under 36
– Lawrence Aragon is the Editor-in-Chief of Thomson Reuters publication the Venture Capital Journal and compiled this list with the help of his VCJ staff of editors and contributors. –
Let me introduce you to 10 young venture capitalists who are poised to do great things. All of our “Hot Prospects” are 35 years old or younger and all have yet to make their mark in VC.
While you may not be familiar with Chi-Hua Chien, 32, of Kleiner Perkins, Phin Barnes, 34, of First Round, Alex Kinnier, 33, of Khosla Ventures, Ken Howery, 34, of Founders Fund or Ann Miura-Ko, 33, of Floodgate, we’re sure you will be in the next several years.
Read the profiles by clicking on the pictures below.
In compiling our list of “Hot Prospects,” we didn’t have hard data to crunch. Our picks haven’t been in the business long enough to have had a major exit. So we looked at a variety of other factors that suggest future success, such as praise from experienced VCs, founding or helping to build a stellar company, successful angel investments, rapid promotion to partner, early investments in promising private companies, technical wizardry, and overcoming a major challenge.
Venture Capital is all about assessing early stage companies, and making a business decision. The ONLY people which have credibility are those who have ACTUAL hands-on experience at this stage in a broad range of industries. Earning an MBA studying theoretical business cases barely relates to the far most complex and fast moving REAL world. Don’t confuse a 30-34 year old’s “paper credentials” with expertise. Not one of them is experienced enough (at this stage) to be credible decision makers.