Fred Wilson (avc.com) is named the #1 venture capital brand online
with a Heardable Score of 627 out of 1000, followed by Andreessen
Horowitz at #2, Venrock Associates at #3, Intel Capital at #4, and
Mayfield Fund at #5.
Fred Wilson outscored such brands as Venrock Associates and
Mayfield Fund to secure the top position, which was calculated by a
thorough examination of over 200 VC brands and 779+ data variables per
brand. Fred Wilson's score of 627 out of 1,000 beat its nearest
competitor, Andreessen Horowitz, by 16 points (2.6%).
So what is Fred Wilson doing right? Lots of things:
- Compelling content publishing (syndicated and embedded)
- Website optimized for smartphone browsing
- Strong social media presence, participation & followers
As many of you may already know, Fred Wilson is a partner with
Union Square Ventures, a VC firm that ranked #25 in this report. Every
firm featured in this report is a stand alone venture capital company
except for Fred Wilson, who is both a partner in a leading VC firm and
the most popular venture capitalist brand in his own right.
Heardable wrestled with whether to include Fred Wilson as a
separate brand in its report, since all other competitors were
traditional venture capital companies. But the research results were
clear and compelling. For example, Fred Wilson has 209,876 Twitter
followers, which is 380% higher than the next closest VC firm on
Twitter. His website, avc.com, generates 70k visitors per month, which
is 2,021% higher than second place Andreessen Horowitz.
Top 10 VC Brands, Ranked by Heardable Score (1000 points possible)
1. Fred Wilson - 627
2. Andreessen Horowitz - 611
3. Venrock Associates - 603
4. Intel Capital - 602
5. Mayfield Fund - 592
6. OpenView Venture Partners - 591
7. Scottish Equity Partners - 583
8. DCM - 573
9. Benchmark Capital - 568
10. Sequoia Capital - 561
Heardable evaluated over 200 venture capital brands and many
well-known VC firms did did not make the cut into the Top 50, including:
Google Ventures, Atlas Venture, Hummer Winblad Venture Partners, Summit
Partners, BOLDstart Ventures, General Catalyst, Y Combinator, Sigma
Partners, Redpoint Ventures, Austin Ventures, and U.S. Venture Partners.
"Fred Wilson's Heardable score
represents his participation as a category leader in the VC community,"
said Gunther Sonnenfeld, co-founder of Heardable, Inc. "Any company in
today's landscape must think and act as a live brand, with its own
expressions, actions and scalable value offerings.
In the venture space, this is especially important: While there
might be plenty of capital to invest, the fact is that deal flow is a
challenge, and therefore the best way for entrepreneurs and venture
firms or institutional investors to connect is through the sharing of
critical information.
Fred Wilson understands this better than anyone, and has grown
his business through the power of social interactions, as well as
through a rich digital footprint -- an optimized web presence, pervasive
applications, compelling social media content and unparalleled
perspectives on the market that incorporate his own thinking, and that
of industry stalwarts, all of which he syndicates with consistency. At
the end of the day, Fred conducts a deep and direct dialogue with all
the stakeholders in the investment process, including prospects, and
this is an example for all great venture firms to follow."
