A Fund of Funds

One of the most interesting conversations I had at Mike and Robb's party was with Jamien McCullum who heads the McCullum Group.

The group is creating a venture capital fund of funds that will allow investors an opportunity to invest in some of the biggest VC funds in the Silicon Valley.

Want in on the profits that Sequoia must have raked in after its investment in YouTube, or Kleiner Perkins, which counts companies like Amazon.com, Electronic Arts, and Google as its early investments? The McCullum Group fund could be a way to do it. (Clarification: I mention Sequoia and KP as just examples and don't know if they will allow the a fund of funds like the McCullum Group to invest in them.)

VC funds are traditionally restricted to institutional investors like pension funds and university endowments. But this could be one way for smaller investors to piggyback on the kind of returns that VCs can see with the right investment.

The McCullum group, says Jamien, will also have a social agenda and will look to set apart a percentage of its profits to help with charitable giving.

Here's a link to their website.

I would love to talk to Jamien more in a few weeks when he is ready for how the fund works and what kind of returns investors can expect and the risk factors here. Venture Capital is a tough business. One in ten startups will fail and I know of many VC firms whose funds haven't brought in good returns.

The conversation with Jamien, when it happens, should be interesting.