Alan Patricof has a Rolodex as big as Manhattan, and all the movers and shakers are in it. That’s what happens when you spend nearly all of your 88 years in New York, and more than 50 in the investment business.
Barron’s: Primetime Partners is your latest venture-capital firm, and your so-called third act. Why a third professional act in your 80s, and why this particular act? All these ideas were percolating when my son told me to talk with Abby Levy, then president of Thrive Global, whom I already knew. She had been studying this market and was planning to start a new fund focused on companies serving older adults. We met for breakfast, and a week later we formed Primetime. She had operating experience, and I had investment experience and a long history. We quickly raised a $50 million fund. We wanted to keep things small.
Newsletter Sign-up It has taken a while, but start-up founders are becoming much more realistic. Do you want to spend a year trying to raise money at higher prices and convincing yourself that your company is worth more than a year ago, or do you want to accept reality? In my view, get your money raised in a reasonable amount of time, get on with your business, and let time justify your exit valuation.
I look at it this way: Interest rates aren’t going down. They could go up even more, although most of the rise is over. Inflation is still a problem, even if it isn’t as serious as a year ago. Business isn’t as ebullient as it was, and earnings aren’t growing dramatically.