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Is it just me or does the confirmation of Manchester as a low carbon area one day, followed by the launch of a £100m North West Urban Investment Fund the next, grate a little? On one hand we’re planning to retrofit the North West’s biggest metropolitan area and on the other we’re investing £££ in new urban development (albeit sustainable). Aren’t many of Manchester’s recent new builds half empty at the moment anyway? Hopefully the retrofitting doesn’t involve those that have sprung up over the last ten years. Both of these initiatives involve the NWDA but have been made, in a week when world leaders are deciding our the fate of our environment, without any communication of a vision for the North West’s long term sustainability.

So what does this mean that Manchester’s cold war-esque ‘nuclear free city’ signs from the 80s featuring a white dove of peace will be changed to…..?

It was champagne and canapés all round last night at the London VCs and Entrepreneurs Year End Party, setup by The Founders Club, and hosted at MoFo (that stands for Morrison Foerster, a global law firm, not what you were thinking).

Attendees included the great and good from technology, cleantech and medtech companies, investors and VCs.

During a Q&A session with Jon Moulton, focused on building successful businesses, Jon gave a beautiful tip on judging the potential of a senior management candidate: Note their marital track record.  One divorce is most desirable, it seems, suggesting they learnt quickly from their original mistake.

Zero divorces, impressive, but perhaps just beginners luck. Two or more divorces suggest a failure to learn and, perhaps, that they may not be 100 per cent focused on work.

As an unmarried tech PR guy, clearly I have some courting to do before I even begin to worry about an MBA….

Continued access to investment (early-stage and further rounds) is vital for UK plc to innovate its way out of the clutches of recession.

However, there’s been trouble brewing in the traditional venture capital industry for some time. Many private VC firms are struggling and have been forced to invest further cash into their existing portfolios, or at least holding more in reserve. Today’s FT also highlights a new report from the National Audit Office, which has attacked the government’s record of VC investment with taxpayers’ money.

So with this background in mind, we’re really excited to support the launch of the first reverse VC fund, The Founders Club, that enables CEOs and founders to use their shares and stock options to become limited partner investors.

Formed by fourteen senior venture capitalists from Silicon Valley, Europe and Israel, members agree to pay a small percentage of their personal cash exits from an IPO or M&A transaction into the fund, which is then distributed to all the members in that specific fund. As well as the obvious diversification and liquidity benefits, members are tied together and incentivized to help each other.

At Chameleon PR, we pride ourselves in understanding the power of the ‘network’, and wish The Founders Club, and its portfolio companies, the very best of luck.