Welcome to the last Monday of March!  Today we have a chance to talk to Matt Witheiler of Flybridge Capital Partners in Boston, Massachusetts.  Matt's investment interests and experience broadly cover companies and technologies across the information technology sector including financial technology, digital media, semiconductors.  He currently represents Flybridge Capital Partners on the board of Convoke Systems and serves as an observer on the boards of DataXu,  Ready Financial, Sand 9 and a portfolio company working in stealth.  He also sits on the board of The Capital Network and is a Founding Executive Committee Member of FirstGrowth Venture Network, a network of venture and angel investors supporting first and second time entrepreneurs building exciting companies in the New York area.  Mattt joined the Flybridge as a Senior Associate in July 2008 after completing his MBA at Harvard School of Business (HBS).  Prior to HBS, Matt spent seven years in various roles in the high technology industry including tree years at ATI Technologies, a $4B 3D-graphics silicon provider where he focused on the integration of 3D graphics and digital video and was responsible for the TV on the PC integrated circuit product line.

Matt Witheiler, Principal, Flybridge Capital Partners

Q. From which industry sector do you think we will see the most innovation in the next 2 years?

A. Financial technology. The financial world was rocked from 2008- 2010 across the spectrum, impacting both consumers (subprime mortgage crisis, CARD Act, etc) and enterprises (The Great Recession, Dodd-Frank Act, etc).  Be on the lookout for innovative companies playing across this spectrum, from consumer facing financial services products to back office technology companies.

Q.  2011 is the year of the ...

A. ... IPO.  With an equities market in a more favorable place than in years past, look for more and more IPOs to come out and provide much needed liquidity into the venture industry.

Q.  The biggest threat to the US venture capital industry is ...

A. ...lack of liquidity.  The industry has been hampered by a lack of capital coming out of the system  in the past 4 years given a weak IPO market and a somewhat lackluster M&A market.  Thankfully, there are some bright spots so far in 2011 in the form of a more robust IPO market and an increased appetite for secondary transactions.

Q.  What is your favorite book of the last year?

A.  Mastering the VC Game.  Although it’s somewhat self-serving being it was written by my colleague Jeff Bussgang, it’s a great learning tool for entrepreneurs and VCs alike and honestly one of my favorites from last year. 

Q.  Name a venture-backed company you are not invested in but wish you were. 

A.  Square.  Disruptive product, great team, huge market: there’s not much to dislike.

Q.  Name a practicing VC from another firm who you admire and why?

A.  Eric Paley at Founder Collective.  I had a chance to get to know Eric in his transition from co-founder of a Flybridge backed company to venture capitalist.  What  makes Eric great is how much he genuinely cares about the entrepreneurs he meets with.  He goes out of his way to be helpful no matter the person or the stage and he is universally respected by the entrepreneurial community as a result.  I try to approach each and every meeting I do in a similar manner.