Wendell Brooks, the incoming head of Intel Capital, finally took on the reins at the world’s biggest venture capital firm, as he dubbed his predecessor, Arvind Sodhani, “a Silicon Valley icon”.
The pair’s organisation Intel Capital hosted more than 1100 people in San Diego for its Intel Capital Global Summit this week, the group’s annual gathering which brings along its portfolio.
Wendell Brooks gave the closing fireside chat of the conference with journalist Dylan Tweney, after Arvind Sodhani had opened the event.
When asked about the state of the market in venture, Brooks said he anticipated the public markets to open up for private companies which had been “patient”.
Brooks said Intel Capital-backed data analytics company Cloudera was a “prime example” of “an incredibly patient unicorn.” He said it would “benefit” when the IPO market is right. Cloudera’s chief executive Tom Reilly had just said, before Brooks came on stage:”We intend to be a public company. Yet you must realise going public is not the end game.”
Both Sodhani and Brooks told reporters they were cautious about market valuations, partially echoing many in the venture and start-up industry warning the current proliferation of technology “unicorns” – venture-backed companies valued at private companies – is a potential bubble.
However, Brooks’ view appears to also indicate the current technology boom could run for quite a lot longer, as he suggested public markets in some ways have to “catch-up” with private markets.
The interview was the final view of Brooks to the massive Intel Capital ecosystem of entrepreneurs, corporations and venture capital firms.
There were also personal anecdotes. Brooks said he had leapt at the chance of working at Intel, coming from a career in banking. Brooks said: “I could not look in the mirror if I didn’t work for the world’s greatest engineering company.”