Because they're alumni of storage companies, the QTV'ers have rich insight into picking truly differentiated storage startups, says Steve Duplessie, senior analyst at The Enterprise Storage Group Inc.
"QTV is hyperactive in this space," Duplessie says. "They have the luxury of already being a player in the storage sector, so they look to fund companies that have the ability to hit solo home runs as well as help their existing businesses. Having a truckload of engineers gives them the advantage of being able to deep dive into the technology that the potential portfolio company has, so they can weed out the crazy from the possible."
And there are definitely some ugly mutts rambling around, Domengeaux says.
"You see a lot of bad deals out there," he says. "I can't tell you the number of virtualization proposals we've seen in the last quarter. We have to tell them, 'Well, that was two years ago, not now.' "
QTV expects to invest in about nine companies in 2002, which would keep them on their pace to date. What do Domengeaux and his team look for in a storage startup? "Fundamentally, you have to understand if the team is solid, if the team is capable of executing," he says.
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