McIlwain's Midas touch |
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McIlwain's Midas touch
Matt McIlwain
Two years ago, I took Forbes to task for not including any Seattle area venture capitalists on its "Midas List." At the very least, I noted that Madrona Venture Group's Matt McIlwain -- an early investor in Isilon Systems -- should have been considered.
Well, maybe the editors of Forbes finally listened. McIlwain appears on the latest "Midas List," debuting in the 57th slot. He's the only Seattle area VC to make the list this year.
Of course, you have to take any award like this with a grain of salt. But it is good to actually see some national recognition for the Seattle venture capital community.
McIlwain has been on a good run lately. In addition to Isilon, he was Madrona partner who led investments in World Wide Packets (sold to Ciena for $290 million) iConclude (sold to Opsware for $60 million) and Farecast (sold to Microsoft for $115 million.)
And who are the top tech deal makers in the country according to Forbes? That honor goes to Silicon Valley power brokers John Doerr of Kleiner Perkins; Michael Moritz of Sequoia Capital and Ram Shriram of Sherpalo Ventures. Full list here.
I asked McIlwain for the secret to his success. Of course, he gave credit back to entrepreneurs such as iConclude's Sunny Gupta, Farecast's Hugh Crean and Isilon's Sujal Patel.
"There are other factors that are important like large, emerging markets, differentiated strategies and some good luck, but the entrepreneurs make it all come together," said McIlwain, who is recovering from an Achilles heel injury suffered in a soccer match.
McIlwain said he was honored to be on the list, which in past has featured Tom Alberg of Madrona and Robert Nelsen of Arch Venture Partners.
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