Steve Young Quotes

The individual dynamics going on within a venture fund are critically important to you. Unfortunately, they're also very opaque.

The number-one job of the hedge-fund manager is not to make sure that you can retire with a smile on your face - it's for him to retire with a smile on his face.

Many of the best firms historically in venture capital have been multi-sector.

I think one of the key differentiators I bring to the table as a venture capitalist is a solid understanding of the public markets and how they operate.

Hedge funds, private equity and venture capital funds have played an important role in providing liquidity to our financial system and improving the efficiency of capital markets. But as their role has grown, so have the risks they pose.

Venture-capital firms invest in trends by projecting returns. But most projections are pretty much bogus, and research shows that experts are no better at predicting the future than dart-throwing monkeys.

At the end of the day, VCs have to provide their limited partners with great returns, or they aren't going to be able to raise another fund.

I don't think you should put all your money in one place. It must be invested in different investments.

I founded SkyBridge - an alternative investment management company focused on seeding and partnering with emerging managers and mentoring Wall Street's next generation of Wall Street's entrepreneurs - in 2005.

Some big banks remain wary of venture capital.

My career in academic research has not been involved with active management of securities. I've tried to understand risk-and-return relationships; also the pricing of derivative securities.

I've nothing against Goldman Sachs. But Goldman Sachs isn't an investment bank. Goldman Sachs is a hedge fund. It's bigger than any hedge fund. It's more leveraged, to the power of three or five, than any hedge fund.

I started a business with two guys I played with, Ronnie Lott and Harris Barton: Champion Ventures, it's a fund of funds. We have $400 million or so under management.

I'd been a great angel investor, but professional venture capital was clearly not the right thing for me.

Pension funds, endowments, and private investors trust Mitt Romney's former company Bain Capital enough to hand it billions of dollars in assets.

Successful hedge funds will be entrepreneurial; it is the essence of the craft.

Any Wall Street advertising that does not go into the boring details of methodology is most likely to be pushing past performance.

We like to be the largest outside investor, and the first outside investor.

Venture capital is unscalable. Production equals the time each partner has.

I consider each business investment based on concept and revenue.

Mutual fund managers want your money in their funds. They get paid based on assets under management.

Guys like me on the investor side are a dime a dozen.

We don't think of ourselves as a regional investment bank. We think of ourselves as merchant bankers with clients all over the country.

With a regular venture fund, you raise, let's say, a billion dollars, and then over the next three or four years, you've got to invest that money; otherwise, the people who invested with you will say, 'What are you doing? You're just collecting fees on our money.'

The few times that Soros has ever criticized me was when I was really right on a market and didn't maximize the opportunity.