Blackrock with their however many trillion under management shouldn’t be able to make decisions about politics – they should stay in their sphere if everyone respects their own world, acts in their own wide best self-interest, that’s sensible.” “I strongly believe that corporations shouldn’t impose an ideology on the world and intervene in the political world. In the process of enabling this ‘innovative recombination’ – what Schumpeter calls ‘creative destruction’ – Mitch believes companies (and investors) should very explicitly stay away from ideology and politics: Along the line, we hope that the combinations work out and we can share parts of the return but this is only part of the process of creating and executing something.” We are in the business of enabling new combinations. We are not in the business of creating a return on capital, however. And innovations come from new combinations of known things. I believe that excess return really comes from innovations. Don’t get me wrong I am a capitalist, I am a Schumpeterian. Quickly, we get to the issue of returns versus impact (or solving big problems) and Mitch has an almost surprising answer to the conundrum: He is personally curious about seeing companies grow, playing a small part in this growth and ultimately enabling ‘new combinations’ to solve real-world problems through innovation. It has real world impact with real world decisions and consequences, that’s the most exciting thing – perhaps apart from watching a child grow up – watching a company grow.” “Personally, I just really like the work: it is intellectually exciting but not just an academic exercise. When I ask him about his motivation to (still) be engaged and active in venture investing, Mitch talks about impact: Mitch is very personable, welcoming, almost grand-fatherly in his big chair – a white man in his seventies who never really did anything but invest in new technology companies in Silicon Valley, including some of the big tech companies our lives are shaped by today.

I am here to research the ethics of venture capitalists and I am meeting a partner in one of the oldest still-existing funds, let’s call him Mitch, in his office. I am in Silicon Valley, the famous Sand Hill Road to be precise, where the brand-name venture capital investors historically sit.

Venture capitalism