The data we put out with Cambridge each quarter comprises return numbers from more than 1300 U.S. venture capital funds, across all performance quartiles. As you will see, pooled venture capital performance was in positive territory across all time horizons and outperformed the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the NASDAQ Composite and the S&P 500 for the majority of measurements, especially in the long-term. For the 15 year return, the U.S. Venture Capital Index had a pooled, end-to-end return, net of fees, expenses and carried interest of 28.0 percent compared to the DJIA return of 6.7 percent, the NASDAQ Composite of 4.8 percent and the S&P 500 of 5.5 percent.

With the improving exit market and signs of growing stability in the capital markets, we are hopeful that the coming year will bring further increases in VC returns, moving us closer to the double digit numbers the industry has historically enjoyed across all time horizons. However, significant uncertainty remains in the global economy and any number of exogenous events could throw us back into a pattern similar to 2011 when the IPO market temporarily stalled in the third quarter amidst serious economic concerns. Yet, if the markets can remain stable, we are well poised to see meaningful upticks in returns.

The venture capital industry has, and will always be, a high risk asset class. Funds perform at various levels – with the most successful firms significantly outperforming the pooled historical returns of the industry. Limited partners should continually assess their own investment performance to determine if their strategies have been successful.

Some not-so-random facts I pulled from the tens of thousands available in this year's book include:

• A National Pastime - A record 47 states and the District of Columbia reported venture deals in 2011
• What Bubble? - In 2011, 526 traditional and corporate venture capital groups invested money into start-ups vs. 1035 in bubble.
• Size Matters - The number of venture capital principals in US VC fell to 6,231, down 28 percent from 2007
• Home Bodies - 71 percent of dollars invested by California VCs went to CA companies
• Good Times - The ratio of IPO valuation to total venture investment before the IPO is at the highest it's been since 1996 at 10.5x.

The NVCA 2012 Yearbook is available to the public free of charge. We encourage you to spend some time with it and refer to it when analyzing the venture capital industry over the coming year. Your feedback and questions are always welcomed at research@nvca.org.

The Yearbook has been produced annually since 1997 for NVCA by Thomson Reuters. It features analysis based on the PricewaterhouseCoopers/ NVCA MoneyTree TM Study, data provided by Thomson Reuters. It is the official yearbook of the U.S. venture capital industry.

We were pleased to see a number of NVCA and MedIC priorities included the marked up bill:

• A patient centered benefit-risk assessment for drugs;
• Expansion of the accelerated approval process for new medical treatments;
• Creation of a new pathway for breakthrough therapies;
• Change to the conflict of interests rules for advisory committees;
• Incentives for the development of new antibiotics;
• Improvements to the DeNovo application process;
• Lift to the profit cap for humanitarian use device exemptions;
• Request to CDRH to withdraw the recent 510(k) submissions guidance

Given the current political environment on the Capitol Hill, we view the markup positively despite the fact that some of these provisions make marginal changes to the FDA law.

We will continue to work hard on our other priorities including a patient centered benefit-risk assessment for medical devices that codifies CDRH's Risk-Benefit guidance, formal time lines for appeals at CDRH, and allowance for the use of foreign data in regulatory decisions. All of these provisions are still on the table and could indeed be included in a final package.

It is likely that the "FDA Safety and Innovation Act" will be debated on the Senate floor sometime in May. The House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee is scheduled to mark up its bill on May 8 and the full Committee plans to mark up the Subcommittee draft shortly thereafter. We are hopeful Congress will stay on this fast paced schedule and get a final package to the President this quarter. This will avoid the possibility of using the bill as a vehicle to to repeal provisions of the new healthcare law on which the Supreme Court likely will render its decision this summer. We will keep you informed here at NVCAccess.

NVCA kicked off the second day of our annual meeting today by presenting the Lifetime Achievement in Venture Capital Award to Arthur Rock. As the original super angel investor whose career has spanned five decades, Arthur played instrumental roles in the founding and early development of Intel, Apple and Teradyne – among others. Arthur shared insights and stories from his legendary career in a conversation with Mike Markkula, co-founder and former CEO of Apple.

One tale involved a young Steve Jobs, who Mr. Markkula kicked out of an Apple board meeting for putting his bare feet up on a conference table. “We were going to eat lunch on that table,” Markkula quipped. He also explained that he only invested in companies that he thought would have no limits to their success – but admitted that Intel was the only one he was ever sure would achieve such success. Among his other insights: the long-term focus of venture investing has kept it scrupulous and scandal-free, and that attracting bright people to Silicon Valley is the key to the area’s culture of innovation strong. Arthur also detailed his extensive efforts to improve primary and secondary education in the U.S.

NVCA created its lifetime achievement award in 1998 to recognize venture professionals who have dedicated their professional lives to creating and building successful and highly competitive venture firms as well as portfolio companies that have made significant contributions to the growth and success of the U.S. economy. Over the course of his career, Arthur has more than merely met these criteria; he has embodied them – a distinction that the venture capitalists in attendance recognized by giving Arthur standing ovations at both the beginning and end of the presentation.

In related news, yesterday, we awarded Stever Fredrick from Grotech Ventures the Outstanding Service Award for founding and growing StartUpHire.com, the online job board dedicated to recruiting talent to venture capital-backed companies.  The Outstanding Service Award was established in 1999 to recognize the exceptional service of an NVCA member who has committed an extraordinary amount of time, resources and dedication to Association efforts that, in turn, benefit the entire venture industry.  With a singular mission to bring visibility to jobs at venture-backed startups, the result has been a remarkable success with more than14,000  jobs posted each month and more than 100,000 registered users.  Through StartUpHire.com, some of the most rewarding jobs and the most exciting venture-backed companies are now accessible to millions of Americans.

In their commitment to entrepreneurship and innovation, both Arthur Rock and Steve Fredrick, have made significant contributions to the venture capital community, the startup ecosystem, and U.S economy.  It was our distinct pleasure to recognize them for their efforts.