TiE-Boston's Annual VC Outlook Dinner has become a tradition. Each year, a panel of distinguished Venture Capitalists discuss the outlook on venture investments for the year ahead. Entrepreneurs receive insights on not only which segments are vibrant, but also how to shape their business models for successful execution in our ever evolving context. This year’s event was held on February 7th in Cambridge, MA and was moderated by Scott Kirsner, Columnist, Boston Globe. The panelists consisted of Deepak Sindwani, Principal, Bain Capital Ventures; Sunil Dhaliwal, Amplify Partners; Todd Dagres, General Partner, Spark Capital; Jeff Fagnan, Atlas Ventures; and Amir Nashat, Partner, Polaris Ventures.

Deepak emphasized that Bain believes in data science and are data nerds. As such it is important for entrepreneurs to think about which venture capital firm will make the best partner and has done similar deals in the past before they pitch to.

Sunil mentioned that even though VCs have had a tough time overall during the past couple of years, niche funds have done well. Amplify Partners’ focus has been in very early deals in the area of IT infrastructure. He strongly encourages multiple meetings between the entrepreneur and the VC to develop trust where each one enjoys talking to the other before getting the deal done.

“There are always good entrepreneurs and ideas so I is currently optimistic when others are pessimistic,” said Todd. However, entrepreneurs need to be realistic and should know their competition before they move forward.

“In some sense it is Darwinism. Some businesses will rise and others will fail. Get a partner firm committed to Boston, if you can,” said Jeff.

Finally, according to Amir, “Survivors are thriving. Biotech is Boston focused. You just see it when the entrepreneur has the passion and what it takes to be one.”

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