By Francis Moran
Defiantly channeling the “greed is good” credo of character Gordon Gekko from his self-avowed favourite movie “Wall Street,” venture capitalist Paul Dawalibi from St. Lawrence Capital ruffled more than a few feathers at an Ottawa Network event at TheCodeFactory last night.
“Arrogant putz,” one attendee said to me as I headed out the door, while another, accused by Dawalibi of asking a “hostile question,” retorted back, “That was a hostile presentation.” Other opinions were equally scathing. “Why would any self-respecting entrepreneur submit themselves to that,” one audience member asked me rhetorically, while another wondered, “Is this is what it’s come to in Ottawa that we have to put up with the likes of that,” after commenting that Dawalibi’s presentation and approach seemed rather barren of ethics.
Indeed, at one point Dawalibi, whose fund claims an interest in backing green technology, told the 40 or 50 people in the room, “If it (an investment in a company’s technology) earns me a 10x return, I don’t care how badly it pollutes.”
It was a remarkably unrepentent and jarringly discordant approach at a time when greed and unrestrained capitalism have toppled so many of Gekko’s modern-day Wall Street compatriots.
Dawalibi’s “I am not your friend” pitch to entrepreneurs was also in sharp contrast to the other funding source represented at last night’s event, the Ontario government’s Accelerator Investment Fund. Investment manager Shirley Speakman put as much emphasis on the friendly and nurturing support structures the fund offers its portfolio companies as she did on the half-million dollars she could invest.
Technorati Tags: venture capital, St. Lawrence Capital, Paul Dawalibi, Investment Accelerator Fund, Shirley Speakman, The Ottawa Network
