The challenging environment in the "real economy" certainly impacts the perception of venture risk. But the small amount of capital required to validate many ideas together with the cost saving/revenue enhancing nature of many start-ups places the venture economy on a materially different plane than the real economy, at least in the short run. The early-stage venture investing environment has been very robust notwithstanding the public-market headwinds. This performance has been even more impressive in light of the uncertain regulatory environment (accredited investor rules, tax treatment of carried interest, etc.).

    Bottom line, the NPV of future cash flows are perceived to be more valuable than the drag of both the public markets and potential SEC and tax policies enacted by Congress. If this isn't incredibly validating of today's early-stage venture environment I don't know what else to say.

    Venture capital is alive and well in Q4 2010. It's not without its challenges but it is active, thriving and creating jobs every day. We are in a complicated time in the VC industry's evolution, but it is merely a cyclical phenomenon. None of the issues present today are unique to the industry: They've been seen before. It is time we moved beyond the "This has never happened before" phase towards the "Let's make the most of this environment and make money for our LPs and ourselves." Because the time is right and we owe our LPs this measure of focus, passion and stewardship.