A very gloomy piece in the Wall Street Journal writes an epitaph to the great venture capital-backed computer company start-up boom that started with the $70,000 seed capital that got DEC started in 1967: venture capitalists see so few gaps in the market that could be filled by thrusting young $100m-a-year businesses that it’s very difficult to get funding for a computer hardware company – but there is still a source of capital for start-ups, because the ever-cautious Japanese like to learn a market thoroughly before they go in all guns blazing, many Japanese companies in mature industries are looking to diversify into electronics, and bankrolling a US start-up with a bright idea is seen as a good way of getting a foot in the door, so that provided the entrepreneur can face having ultimately to sell out his or her creation to its Japanese sugar-daddy, seed capital may well be there.
