OpenView Names 10 Most Influential Technology Venture Capitalists Online
OpenView Venture Partners, an expansion-stage venture capital firm focused on providing technology companies with deep operational support, released a new report today entitled, “Social Media Mavens: A Look at the Top 10 Technology Venture Capitalists on the Web.”
The report identifies the most effective technology-focused venture capitalists using social media and analyzes the techniques they’re using to fuel their success online.
“Social media and other online channels are increasingly driving the influence, reach, and ultimately the success of today’s venture capitalists,” said Brian Zimmerman, Managing Director of OpenView Labs, the firm’s strategic consulting arm.
“For this report, we assessed how leading venture capitalists are using social media to establish some interesting rankings and, more importantly, shed some light on how they are using it to extend their influence.”
The OpenView report looks at venture capitalists’ use of personal blogs, Twitter, and Quora, the three channels it defines as most important for measuring VCs’ online influence. The report ranks the ten most influential VCs overall as well as the top five most influential using each tool:
Overall
- Fred Wilson
- Mark Suster
- Brad Feld
- Bill Gurley
- Chris Dixon
- Josh Kopelman
- Paul Graham
- Dave McClure
- Charlie O’Donnell
- David Hornik
Blogs
- Fred Wilson
- Mark Suster
- Brad Feld
- Bill Gurley
- Chris Dixon
- Fred Wilson
- Dave McClure
- Paul Kedrosky
- Mark Suster
- Brad Feld
Quora
- Dave McClure
- Mark Suster
- Brad Feld
- Charlie O’Donnell
- Ryan Spoon
“The Web provides powerful opportunities for venture capitalists to interact with entrepreneurs and the world, giving them visibility, attracting followers, and raising awareness of their personal brand,” said Zimmerman.
“Fred Wilson, Mark Suster, Dave McClure, and the other venture capitalists cited throughout this report have done just that, and have set what we believe to be industry best practices for effectively using social media as an important communication and influence-building tool.”
OpenView’s reports span a variety of topics, including technology, venture capital, marketing, and sales, and are created from the research OpenView Labs conducts in support of its portfolio companies. Recent reports have looked at website content segmentation, up and coming hotspots for venture capital, and compensation research at the expansion stage.
A companion report analyzing and ranking venture capital firms’ use of social media will be released in the coming weeks.
About OpenView Venture Partners
OpenView Venture Partners (http://openviewpartners.com) is an expansion-stage venture capital fund based in Boston that is focused on high-growth software, Internet, and technology-enabled companies. Through its staff of seasoned operating executives, who collectively bring several decades of technology and management experience to the firm, OpenView is able to help portfolio companies quickly optimize their product, go-to-market, and organizational and operational functions. Founded in 2006, the firm invests globally and has approximately $440 million in total capital under management.
About OpenView Labs
OpenView Labs is the strategic and operational consulting arm of OpenView Venture Partners, a global venture capital fund that invests in expansion-stage technology companies. The Labs team consults to the management of OpenView’s portfolio companies across an array of functional areas, including recruiting, go-to-market support, and research and analytics. Together with its network of senior advisors, the team supports OpenView’s portfolio companies on a range of initiatives ranging from methodology incubation and market research, to providing strategic coaching.