6 Podcasts with VCs Interested in Cloud Startups

Just as entrepreneurs brought computing from centralized mainframes to distributed desktop PCs and then to cloud computing, entrepreneurs continue to make their marks on various parts of the cloud. Without the support of venture capitalists and investors, much of this progression would not be possible. If your startup operates in the cloud, you would be wise to listen to this selection of 30-minute podcast interviews with VCs interested in cloud startups.

Brian Jacobs, Emergence Capital – General Partner, Brian discusses his views on where cloud opportunities are likely to be at this point. While we’re in a mature market, he is still bullish on innovation.

Ann Winblad, Hummer Winblad – One of the most successful women VCs in the industry, Ann has never been heard whining about a bias against women. One of the most encouraging things she discusses is how her firm is sourcing interesting ventures from all over the world, not just Silicon Valley.

Sandeep Singhal, Nexus Ventures – Managing Director for this key player in the India-US startup corridor. The discussion spans trends in SaaS, Open Source, and the Indian venture capital market in general. If you are working in the technology startup sector with an interest in India, this is a discussion worth listening to.

David Hornik, August Capital – This General Partner, as some of you may know, shocked the industry about 10 years back by being the first VC to start blogging – his peers were aghast! We discussed a number of points – I want to particularly draw your attention to his views on the subject of Freemium.

Eric Benhamou, Benhamou Global Ventures – Managing Partner of Benhamou Global Ventures, Eric was the CEO of 3Com, a pioneer in the networking space, and the key competitor to Cisco. He also ran Palm, the first Smartphone maker, that 3Com acquired, then spun out and took public. He provides a window into the opportunities in the enterprise cloud infrastructure space, and in Cyber Security, and also explains why he is not necessarily looking for Unicorn companies to invest in. This, I might point out, is a highly unusual perspective in today’s VC universe, so you may want to pay attention to his analysis of the market.

Naren Gupta, Nexus Ventures – As a co-founder of a firm with an excellent track record of investing in the Silicon Valley – India corridor, but with a global market point of view, Naren shares his insights, nuggets, and interesting wisdom.

Jason Lemkin, SaaStr Fund – Prior to becoming an investor, he was the CEO of EchoSign, a digital signature SaaS vendor that Adobe acquired some years back. This is an excellent discussion and offers very concrete pointers to where you might look for white spaces in the cloud computing space to do new ventures.