Venture Capitalist David Lane – Fulfilling His God-given Purpose

David LaneVenture capital is a glamorous, but very difficult business.  The glamour comes when investments lead to breakthrough products and when portfolio companies go public or are acquired.  But less than 10% of start-ups deliver outstanding investment return, and the majority of start-ups fail. “It takes wisdom, insight, hard work, and a little bit of luck to succeed,” says Diamondhead Ventures founder, David Lane.  It also takes humility, perseverance, and a long term perspective to endure when start-ups fail.

Source of His Strength

David Lane draws on the hardship he experienced early in his life to navigate the ups and downs of the venture business.  He was a top athlete and excellent student in high school, when a neurological reaction to a virus, called Guillain-Barré Syndrome, suddenly disabled him.  “When you are immobilized for an extended period of time, you start to focus on how precious your body is.” says Lane.

He was bedridden for a week, but it took several weeks for him to learn to walk again and many months to fully recover.  His temporary disability helped bring focus to his faith.  “I was a Christian at the time, but it made me appreciate how material things in our lives are interesting, but insufficient.  I reflected on what’s important and what is not, and I circle back to those thoughts on a regular basis.”

Long term Perspective

Lane gained a long term perspective from his ordeal, which he says “gives him peace.”  “I know that I am living my life to the best of my ability.  At the end of the day, I feel comforted knowing that my belief in God prepares me for life after death.  We have only a short time on Earth, but we live for eternity.”

Having a long term perspective also helps Lane in business.  “I’ve been in the venture business since 1987.  Companies used to go from first funding to exit in five or six years.  Now it is probably eight to ten years.  It is a balance between sprinting to get things done and running a marathon.”

Business Background

Lane started in the venture business with the Harvard Management Company, the investment entity for Harvard University’s endowment, where he focused on investments in early and later stage companies in information technology and healthcare.  Later he worked as a partner at Onset Ventures, a Silicon Valley-based firm.  He founded Diamondhead Ventures in 2000.

Not all venture firms are the same.  Diamondhead differentiates itself in two ways.  It is focused on early round investments in companies with disruptive technologies coming out of university research labs.  In addition, the firm touts what Lane calls “a world-class ecosystem” of industry and university advisors as well as corporate partners to support its portfolio of entrepreneurial companies.  “Few firms have two general partners as we do at Diamondhead who worked at leading universities [Harvard and Stanford] and who understand how universities work.  Both that expertise and Diamondhead’s rich ecosystem of advisors set us apart,” says Lane.  Its strategy works.  With its $140 million fund, Diamondhead has helped over 20 companies from start-up through acquisition.

Criteria for Investing

So how does David Lane decide which companies to fund?  Here is what he looks for:

  • Integrity and openness – “It is being true to what you believe, and how you want others to treat you.  It’s being honest and open to feedback and constructive criticism.  Disclosing more, not less, and being honest about why a decision should be made is very powerful.”
  • Right people – “People are critical to success.  If a company creates a great mission, and executes with integrity and strong ethics, recruiting becomes much easier.  And in Silicon Valley, trying to find top notch people in large quantities is very difficult.”
  • Collaboration – “I like to be close to and supportive of my entrepreneurs.  I don’t make their decisions; but I like to provide input in a collaborate manner for the strategic decisions that need to be made.  I like to fund entrepreneurs with whom I can communicate well and who see the world in a similar way as I do.”
  • Shared values – “An entrepreneur is an individual who brings their mental framework to their company and decision-making process.  Having alignment on values and a sense of right and wrong is very important for investors and entrepreneurs.  The challenge is that they never line up 100 percent.  Shared values are critical, because values dictate actions.”
  • Knowledge of the market – “I want to find an individual who deeply understands a market and a market need.  Silicon Valley has learned many times that technology alone does not sell.  Solutions sell. I would much rather find an entrepreneur who has keen insight, than an individual who has a great technology, but is not sure which market to apply it to.  And, of course, I must believe it is a good business idea which can succeed.”

But even with best efforts, businesses sometimes fail.  “One of the hardest things to do as a venture capitalist is to decide when to no longer fund a company,” says Lane.  Individuals and families are affected, but venture firms also have a fiduciary responsibility to their investors.  “If a business cannot achieve an economic scale, I believe it is better for the people involved to seek other opportunities.  God has a mission for all of us.  It may not always be obvious, and it doesn’t always go in a straight line.”

In spite of its difficulties, David Lane loves his work. “It gives me great joy to help individuals create great companies — something that is extremely hard to do.”

A Big Idea

By nature, venture capitalists think big.  They take an idea and hope to make it into a breakthrough technology and successful business.  But big ideas are not confined to business.  Lane is pursuing a faith-based idea — helping start 1,000 new churches in the Bay Area within 10 years.  This is a big goal to pursue in an area that is not particularly friendly to Christian faith.  But God is working in the Bay Area, and David Lane is one of God’s workers.  The goal of 1,000 new churches comes from a consortium of business leaders, pastors, and non-profit leaders called Transforming the Bay with Christ (TBC).

Pat Gelsinger, CEO of VMware leads TBC; David Lane is on the TBC team focused on its church planting initiative.  “What is exciting for me is to create an ecosystem for church planters, in the same way that I created an entrepreneurs’ ecosystem at Diamondhead.  I believe an ecosystem is powerful and can be built in the Bay Area where planting pastors are supported in a way where the odds for their startup – their church – can be dramatically increased in comparison to going it alone.”

Starting and building businesses and churches are all part of David Lane’s God-given purpose — to help people.  “I believe that God gives everyone unique talents.  My goal is to develop and use my talents in a way that will benefit others, and can benefit the kingdom God created.”

6 thoughts on “Venture Capitalist David Lane – Fulfilling His God-given Purpose”

  1. #1 Cleantech Startup on earth seeking Seed & Scale-up investors. Christian. Alpha Omega Energy. NOT Silicon Valley. Cambodia. 1,185 New Energy and Energy Related Technologies…and counting fast. Invited and attendee to World Economic Forum May 12/2017. Relocated to Cambodia where 80% lack adequate access to electricity in the ASEAN future century economic explosion 7% GDP Superspeed. 650 Million person market integrating. 4 Nation Heart location central. Beginning with #1 Fuel Cell tech on earth. 24 hours a day clean power service for industrial and commercial distributed at much cheaper than the retail power grid networks. For profit with many self-sustaining charity missions. Initial approval to solar-power all 22 national orphanges by Child-welfare ministry. Seeking more targets for for-profit solar self-funding option as no investment for startup exists in Cambodia.

    Seek 200k seed OR 50k solar seed to assist self-fund path.

    Bloomberg has already offered to put us on air when we are ready. They said 50 million was too small and we should go for more.

    Amcham committee members SME and ICT.

    Ex-Silicon Investment/Planner/Broker/Banker on the Independent Agency side. Significant investment and finance knowledge and experience.

    Set-up to IPO 2018 on Cambodia Stock Market.

    We need the investment, or at least a good line-up of investors for post install scale up at proper pre-IPO terms.

    Any and all Christian advisors and advice more than welcome, feel free to contact at aomegaenergy.com

    Alpha Omega Energy
    “We Changed The World!”

  2. David,
    Praise God for your testimony.
    I’m seeking a Godly business Mentor for a faith-based Media. I’m a former pastor needing much help to start my Media company.

    God bless

  3. Charlie McMenomey

    Hello David,

    Thank you for sharing your story and your perspective on values based business in the Silicon Valley. Your business insight and big picture mindset are incredibly inspirational, plus your proclaimed faith in the workplace gives me additional fuel to keep Christ at the center of all that I do in my personal and professional life especially when it is so hard not to stumble.

    Thank you again,

    Charlie McMenomey

Comments are closed.

Share:

For a list of all past blog posts:

Most Recent Posts:

Love that Serves

I am troubled but hopeful. I am troubled by the toxicity in our culture today. Our country seems to have lost its moral compass as we observe smash-and-grab lawlessness, senseless killings, and divisive politics. One of our Founding Fathers, John Adams, said, “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is

Read More »

God and Silicon Valley

The Lion, a publication by The Herzog Foundation in its blog called Faith in the Public Square recently published an article I wrote. The article, which is titled God and Silicon Valley, describes the evidence on how God is moving and having an impact in secularized Silicon Valley.    

Read More »

Paul Nyberg — A True Servant Leader

I am proud to say that Paul Nyberg was my friend. Paul passed away at the age of 89 earlier this month. Paul lived a life of servant leadership, wanting to make a difference in the community. He was the publisher of the Los Altos Town Crier and a community leader. He was active in

Read More »

Rescued to Serve

Following is a personal story — a story about how a near-fatal incident transformed the life of my mother, Lil Vaccarello, who turned 100 years old this month (July 2021). She is an inspiration to me and a significant reason for my faith and the work I have done in Silicon Valley. _________________ Palm Sunday,

Read More »

Evidence That Demands a Verdict

The title of this post is the title of one of the bestselling Christian books of all time. The book’s author is Josh McDowell. McDowell has written 151 books in 128 languages. He is one of the most influential Christians of all time. In my book – Finding God in Silicon Valley – I cited

Read More »

Helping Children Know Jesus

An important element in my coming to know Jesus was a children’s program which my young daughter attended over 35 years ago. It changed the trajectory of my life, with Jesus becoming the central focus of my life, affecting my purpose, mission, and my work and family life. Saturday night, April 24, I told this

Read More »
Scroll to Top