capitalist

"The business of financing start-ups, it turns out, may not be as easy as it seems. "There are Darwinian characteristics to venture capital," said C. Richard Kramlich, a founding partner at New Enterprise Associates, a top Valley firm that hired Mr. Alsop in 1996. "Below the surface there's a huge amount of turnover."

At first Mr. Alsop seemed destined for venture capital greatness. But for him and others who made the leap into venture capital in the second half of the 1990's, the experience proved humbling. A technology journalist dating back to 1983, Mr. Alsop was the founder of Agenda, an invitation-only computer industry conference that drew the likes of Microsoft's Bill Gates. Part of the appeal was that Mr. Alsop had a talent for spotting promising technologies and undiscovered start-ups before others. But Mr. Alsop and New Enterprise Associates parted ways in December. Mr. Alsop said he left because he felt most comfortable working with nascent technology companies, and, increasingly, N.E.A. has been broadening its focus well beyond investing in very small start-ups. He described his own track record over eight years as good but not great. IT'S easy to understand why so many joined the swelling ranks of venture capitalists. A general partner at a top-tier firm typically earns at least $1 million in salary. But the real payoff is what venture capitalists call "the carry" - the 20 to 30 percent of the profits they share among themselves before disbursing the rest to investors.

An informal survey of venture capitalists suggested that a partner working at a top-tier firm in the 90's could pocket roughly $50 million over the life of a single fund - with venture firms typically raising a new fund every few years.

Beyond the vast financial rewards, there are the thrills. A venture capitalist is not unlike a movie producer auditioning tomorrow's stars. "Being a venture capitalist was viewed as a very exciting, top of the feeding chain sort of thing," said Scott Dettmer, a founding partner at the Silicon Valley law firm Gunderson Dettmer, who has been providing legal advice to venture capitalists since the 1980's. "But what I think a lot of people learned is that it's not as much fun or as easy as it might have looked from the outside."