Highland Capital founder Paul Maeder points to: a broken model; the end of an innovation cycle If you hang around enough technology conferences with bankers, entrepreneurs and venture capitalists, you’ll hear a lot of grumbling about the state of the venture capital industry and how it's broken. After all, the venture capital narrative recently is generally one of over-investment and a deadend exit environment.  While there are positive signs that public investors may embrace startups once again as OpenTable managed to go public last week, the IPO freeze has yet to thaw. Only half a dozen venture-backed startups went public in 2008, the lowest level since 1977, according to the National Venture Capital Association. But even if the IPO market came back, the changing sentiment toward investments among the venture community is indicative of a larger ...   [ Read more ]