“My role as a venture capitalist is to help people do what they want to do. I get excited about novel ideas. About really smart people pursuing what they are really excited about. About goal alignment.”

“The most exciting part about the startup process is when the company puts its idea on the line by telling the ecosystem of entrepreneurs, customers and venture capitalists what its value proposition is and why its vision and passion matters. At that point the company is presenting itself as something original, something with some degree of novelty and definitely authenticity. Then you find out if there is any receptivity. That is the exciting part. When you are right, everyone wins. When you’re wrong, everyone loses.” Gus Tai, General Partner gus@trinityventures.com Since joining Trinity Ventures in 1996, Gus has specialized in funding early stage companies pioneering new market categories. He particularly enjoys getting involved at the time of company formation, working with founders to help build the team and refine the business model. Gus focuses on consumer services and consumer enabling technologies, and maintains an interest in enterprise software. Prior to Trinity Ventures, Gus began his operational career in engineering management at Digital Equipment Corporation. He also worked at Bain & Company, consulting to technology firms on new product development and business strategy. Gus is a Director of the M.I.T. Club of Northern California and the Chinese Software Professionals Association. Focus Consumer Services and Consumer Enabling Technologies Education M.I.T. Leaders for Manufacturing Fellow M.B.A., M.I.T. Sloan School of Management M.S., Materials Science and Engineering, M.I.T. A.B., Applied Mathematics, Harvard University Active investments Amalfi Semiconductor BillShrink Hidden City Entertainment MaxPoint Interactive mSpot PlayFirst Posterous Trion World Networks WetPaint Past investments Blue Nile (NILE) CubeTree (acquired by SuccessFactors) eSurance (acquired by White Mountains Insurance – WTM) FatBrain.com (FATB) Green Patch (acquired by Playdom) Invio Software (acquired by Veritas – VRTS) Kiva Software (acquired by AOL/Netscape – AOL) Modulus Video (acquired by Motorola – MOT) Photobucket (acquired by Fox Interactive Media – NWS) SpeedEra Networks (acquired by Akamai Technologies – AKAM) Sygate Technologies (acquired by Symantec – SYMC) Follow me   @gustai http://gustai.posterous.com Ajay Chopra Noel Fenton Karan Mehandru Kathy Murphy Patricia Nakache Larry Orr Dan Scholnick Gus Tai Jim Tybur Fred Wang Peter Pham

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