Dixon Doll, Other VCs Talk Mobile Outlook

I had the pleasure of moderating the venture capital panel at GigaOm’s Mobilize ’09 conference yesterday. While investment in the mobile sector is down substantially, particularly for brand new startups, the five panelists are actively looking for deals and are optimistic that deal making will pick up next year.

I think it was telling that after the discussion, Dixon Doll, a co-founder and general partner of DCM, who was one of the panelists, approached another panelist (who shall remain nameless) and expressed genuine interest in learning more about a new deal that the panelist was working on.

Besides Doll, the other VCs on the panel were John Balen, a general partner at Canaan Partners; Bob Borchers, a general partner at Opus Capital and until this past June the senior director of worldwide product marketing for the iPhone; Rob Coneybeer, a general partner at Shasta Ventures; and Mitch Lasky, a general partner at Benchmark Capital.