TheFunded releases top-rated VC list

TheFunded, a startup that lets entrepreneurs rate venture capitalists anonymously, is beginning to release data, previously closed off to the public. Each week, the one-year-old startup will begin releasing a leaderboard of the top venture capitalists, as rated by the 7,500 CEO and founder members of the service. The list is pretty interesting, given that the top 10 aren’t the typical blue-chip names quoted or referenced in articles for their Midas touch-like investment skills. Lars Leckie, (who is part of Vator's VC Access program, which is in alpha) is an associate at Hummer Winblad. He was among venture capitalists to make the top 10. 

Tied for No. 1 are Eric Archambeau, general partner at Wellington Partners, and Peter Solvik, partner at Sigma Partners. Both received five ratings of five stars. Rob Theis, general partner at DCM-Doll Capital Management ranked No. 2. Three VCs tied for third. They are Bill Elmore, general partner at Foundation Capital. David Carlick, managing director at VantagePoint Venture Partners, and Jed Katz, managing partner at Draper Fisher.

TheFunded founder Adeo Ressi tells me that he released the data due to a surge in the reviews TheFunded began receiving of individual partners. "When we released pages for everyone working in venture capital, that spawned a surge in reviews," he said. About 30 reviews of individuals are posted each day, he said. This is a big lift since mid-April, when Adeo released those profile pages for 17,000 individual venture capitalists and associates. Since that time, about 4,000 of the individual profiles have been edited. The publicists or administrators are the ones typically editing for the VCs and associates, said Ressi. 

So, how does the rating system work? The stars represent an overall rating. The VCs aren’t judged by how accessible they are, or how reasonable, or how smart they are. It’s just an overall general score. Now, you can’t read all the details about the individual unless you sign up. If you’re a CEO or founder, you can sign up for free. If you’re a service provider, you have to pay $300 a year. If you’re a VC, you can join to take ownership of your profile. But you can never see the data that’s written about you.

“The forums honesty is highly correlated with its anonymity,” said Adeo. “People speak more freely when they’re comfortable that it’s not going to be shared with VCs.”

(Rounding out the top 10 in the list were Dick Kramlich of New Enterprise Associates, Gilman Louie of Alsop Louie Partners, James Robinson of RRE Ventures, Lars Leckie of Hummer Winblad. Lars was the only associate to make this list. To view the full list, click here.)