From the Editor: The (Ugly) Results Are In –

When Senior Editor Jerry Borrell and I came up with the idea for a report card on the industry back in the summer, I was skeptical about whether top limited partners would agree to fill out a survey that asked them to grade their VC partners. And I was more than a little anxious about whether we’d get enough responses to actually warrant a cover story (see page 32). To Jerry’s credit, he spent hundreds of hours on the project, sending more than 200 emails and making countless phone calls to cajole (yes, even beg) LPs to return their surveys.

I can’t tell you how relieved I was when I saw the name on top of the first survey that was returned. It only got better, and the final group of respondents is a truly impressive and diverse group of LPs. Part of me is aching to share just a few of the names with you, but I am sworn to secrecy. We promised the LPs anonymity to protect them from any possible retribution. Plus, Jerry would strangle me with my mouse cord if I spilled the beans.

Now that the report card is done, the ball is in your court. You can hide this issue of the magazine and pretend you never saw it or you can take a copy and share it with one of your LPs over a cup of coffee. Our hope is that this report card will start an honest dialogue between GPs and their LPs. We have a feeling that LPs have raised some of these concerns before but probably in a way that didn’t truly convey the depth of their concern. You now have an opportunity to ask them how they really feel.

This is the second year that we’ve done an LP feedback cover, and it’s the first year that we’ve done a report card. Our goal is to do the report card annually from here on out. If you’re an LP, let me know if you’d like to participate next year. We’ll keep your name a secret. I promise.

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