South African entrepreneurs are obviously loaded.
How else can you explain the fact that the next First Tuesday, which was meant to be a
“panel discussion to determine the state of VC funding in South Africa, what funders are looking for and how you can go about gaining access to the funds available”
has been cancelled due to lack of interest?
And here I was, worried that our super-smart South Africans are at a disadvantage when it comes to creating killer applications that can take the world by storm. Rather, they are too busy ducking from all the money thrown at them to attend a meeting to encourage them to get even more.
I remember a couple of years ago chatting to Julia Long from HBD Venture Capital, when I commented that fielding all the proposals for funding must sometimes be a nightmare. To which she replied that, in fact, they were not getting enough good proposals!
So what’s going on? Have we become experts at developing applications at minimum cost? Are founders putting up their own money? Are lenders over eager to lend?
Or, heaven forbid — are we just not developing applications any more?