A lot of business reporting involves talking to companies and their representatives seeking coverage about the firm’s successes. So I give it up to any business that will shine a light on its failures.
Bessemer Venture Partners in one of the nation’s oldest venture capital funds, which invest in developing companies. it’s a high-risk, high-reward proposition, and Bessemer has cashed huge checks from early investments in companies like Staples, Verisign and Skype. But, they admit, other decisions have been less lucrative.
This long and storied history has afforded our firm an unparalleled number of opportunities to completely screw up.
Over the course of our history, we did invest in a wig company, a french-fry company, and the Lahaina, Ka’anapali & Pacific Railroad. However, we chose to decline these investments, each of which we had the opportunity to invest in, and each of which later blossomed into a tremendously successful company.
Our reasons for passing on these investments varied. In some cases, we were making a conscious act of generosity to another, younger venture firm, down on their luck, who we felt could really use a billion dollars in gains. In other cases, our partners had already run out of spaces on the year’s Schedule D and feared that another entry would require them to attach a separate sheet.
Among the companies Bessemer passed on: eBay (”Stamps? Coins? Comic books? You’ve GOT to be kidding,”), Google and Federal Express, which the firm rejected seven times.
Don Mecoy
Business Writer