Gordon Connell, Director of institutional sales, Knight Securities International
Jimmy Treybig is a veteran in a young man's industry: venture capital investing in technology companies. He has worked in the field for over 25 years, really making his name in 1974 by founding and running Tandem Computers, the inventor of non-stop high-performance computers, which he grew from nothing into a $2.3 billion company employing 8,000 people by the time he retired in 1996. Under his leadership, Tandem was the fastest-growing public company in the US. Treybig was showered with awards from American business schools.
Treybig has moved from Silicon Valley to Austin, Texas. He likes Austin. He likes the live-music scene and claims Austin is America's live-music capital. He has a ranch with a river running through it and keeps cows. But he has not given up the day job. The cows are a tax break. If you keep cattle around Austin there's a tax advantage - the authorities see cattle-keeping as a way of preventing excessive urban development. His real love is still technology companies.
Treybig is a venture partner in Austin Ventures. And he reports stunning changes in the US venture capital industry, many related to internet companies.