The two conflicting sides of venture capital, cynicism and hope (many entrepreneurs may argue for the addition of arrogance and greed to the list of VC traits) were illustrated in a couple of articles this week. The Economist has a nice review of venture capital, concluding that there are still too many VCs (some limited partners closing funds raised and lost during the dot com mania may argue that there is no shortage of lampposts and rope) while CNET has a grumpy old VC, Sequoias Don Valentine, deriding nanotechnology with If there is an application for nanotechnology, it’s going to be the later part of our lifetimes. You have this huge amount of press coverage and no market problem that needs solving.
Its an odd statement to make, unless Valentine buys into the Drexlerian dream in which case he may be somewhat optimistic (although until someone gets off their backsides and does some science well never know for sure).