It's all a really great list of benefits you'll get going with Google Ventures if you're lucky enough to get their interest but I don't think it's enough to actually disrupt the VC industry, the benefits aren't really gamechangers:
- they can introduce you to other Googlers, this can be hard to achieve by yourself but it's definitely not impossible, if you're working in a cool space where Google has some platform or aspirations you will inevitably cross paths with someone who can give you the same introductions
- they can send you the rejects that applied for jobs which is for sure going to include some amazing people, but they applied for bigcorp pay, benefits, security, hours, stability and processes .... not startups
- they can help you with their expertise, now this is the potentially really interesting one if you're in the tiny slice of startups that needs to scale the crap out of what they're doing, but their more widely applicable UI expertise is soulless, spartan and even ugly in spite of whole continents converting/reacting well to it
- they have mindshare outside of SV, which is of dubious value really ... I mean they own search and they own online advertising, but they still have to advertise like crazy to get Chrome users so I wouldn't imagine they can just flick a switch and give you massive marketshare overnight
- smart people work there and can give smart advice/insight, which is a big plus of course but smart people are everywhere, you just have to look for them
- work at the Googleplex, probably would be awesome but it's not exactly going to make or break your startup
I may be in the minority, but the idea of talking to Google Ventures makes me nervous. As a tiny startup that is pre-launch, the last thing I want is Google deciding they want to go into my business. It is kind of like Microsoft in the 90s.
I'm not saying it is a well founded fear, but it is enough to keep me from talking to them.
Problems I see that Google Ventures faces if they truly want to disrupt Venture Capital:
They've _got to stop asking founders to opt out of an NDA before founders get buzzed in to Google Venture's office. Otherwise, they are going to have a hard time gaining an entrepreneur's trust. I'm sure it's a "It's not that big of a deal" issue from Google's perspective, because everybody has to opt in/out of an NDA on Google's campus, and it's the Google "normal". But, founders pitching dozens of VC's are going to notice the dramatic difference in signing in to a Google Ventures meeting and stopping by any of the hundreds of VC offices on Sand Hill Road.
Google really needs to relax their "All your IP are belong to us" policy for their engineers, if they are truly going to promote startup culture and have founders want to pitch Google Ventures first when it comes to funding their ideas. There is precious little boot strapping while working at Google. The engineers that I know at Google that are boot strapping pretty much have to be in stealth mode otherwise they run the risk of tripping over Google's IP issues. If they are working on a startup while working at Google, they are _very, __very quiet about it.
That creates a deafening silence silence within 5 miles around Google campus when it comes to Googler startups. Hackers & Founders has been meeting 3 miles away from the Googleplex for years, and I can count on one hand the number of Googlers that show up. How many Googler's hang out at the Hacker Dojo? How many ex-Googler companies are at 500 Startups accelerator, which is a couple of miles away from campus? I hear SunFire is full of them. But, you don't see those people hanging out at 106 miles too much.
Unless they work at Google, hackers in the Valley are getting creeped out by how pervasive Google is, and how much data Google has on them. That very much works against Google Ventures when it comes to founder mind share.
I'm sure to startups based in other parts of the country, Google is quite sexy, and having access to advice from engineers who've worked at Google is quite exciting.
As a VC in the Valley, you want to have a good enough reputation, network and deal flow that you employ people to screen meetings and pitches away to maximize a partner's time. If any other VC in the Valley started offering me $10k per referral that I made to them, I'd run away screaming.
I think this will end up being Google's acquisition hunt fund in the long run. Get in on the ground floor of promising startups in areas Google wants to expand into and see how things shake out. If things go well, you have leverage to get a Google buyout. If the tech takes a different tack from what Google wants they can exert influence to push it in a different direction or help shop them to other companies to recoup investment and grab top talent to come work at Google. Sounds like a decent long term acquisition identification strategy to me.
Pretty sure Google would not just hand over a pile of resumes to the startup, that would be a flagrant breach of trust and probably law as well. What they might do is tell the original applicant something like: we don't have a position that is a good match for your particular skills, but we know of Startup XYZ that is looking, would you like to apply with them?
Unless Google quietly uses it as a pipeline to develop talent. If a person fails to pass the Google test but has potential, a GV startup could be a low risk way for Google to evaluate and develop talent. Once they consume the startup or it sells, developed talent gets pulled into Google proper.
Kinda like a development league for software developers.
My bigger worry with that mentality is it seems slightly demeaning to the startups. "Here's a developer that wasn't good enough for us, maybe he's good enough for you though". Given that Google is investing in the companies, that should _not_ be the attitude they have towards them.
- they can introduce you to other Googlers, this can be hard to achieve by yourself but it's definitely not impossible, if you're working in a cool space where Google has some platform or aspirations you will inevitably cross paths with someone who can give you the same introductions
- they can send you the rejects that applied for jobs which is for sure going to include some amazing people, but they applied for bigcorp pay, benefits, security, hours, stability and processes .... not startups
- they can help you with their expertise, now this is the potentially really interesting one if you're in the tiny slice of startups that needs to scale the crap out of what they're doing, but their more widely applicable UI expertise is soulless, spartan and even ugly in spite of whole continents converting/reacting well to it
- they have mindshare outside of SV, which is of dubious value really ... I mean they own search and they own online advertising, but they still have to advertise like crazy to get Chrome users so I wouldn't imagine they can just flick a switch and give you massive marketshare overnight
- smart people work there and can give smart advice/insight, which is a big plus of course but smart people are everywhere, you just have to look for them
- work at the Googleplex, probably would be awesome but it's not exactly going to make or break your startup