Jason Pressman, managing director at Shasta Ventures, has no qualms about admitting he's comfortable going against the grain.
"I would consider myself naturally a contrarian," he said on Tuesday while discussing his firm's
investment in online real estate search firm
Roost Inc. "In my point of view -- and I certainly could be wrong -- is that when the macro-economic environment is poor, it's a good time to build startups. You have more time to maneuver, you have less competition, and when things turn you've figured out your business model and you have a company that has wind in its sails and takes off. And that's when lots of copycat competitors get funded and pile on, but it's too late."
Quite simply, Pressman believes Roost has a great technology to help people look for homes in an easy and quick fashion. He's also counting on more real estate advertising money shifting online from print and direct marketing in the coming years to drive revenues.
"We're investing in businesses that are very early stage and will be larger businesses in three to five years," he said. "People still need a place to live. People are still going to be buying houses -- it's the American dream. Those fundamentals are not going to go away despite the fact that we're in a poor macro-economic and poor real estate market."
Pressman's contrarian ways extend beyond Shasta's Menlo Park, Calif., environs. Check out his bio
here, and you see the Stanford grad also enjoys scuba diving with sharks. Pressman believes sharks are the most misunderstood animals in the world and is quick to point out that worldwide the average number of deaths from shark attacks are less than 11 per year.
More alarming are the number of sharks that are killed for their fins, which are a delicacy in countries like China. According to this
report from CNN, humans kill around 100 million sharks every year to make shark fin soup. Since he wants to continue to swim with the sharks, Pressman is helping to support a San Francisco-based charity,
WildAid, whose
Shark Conservation Program seeks to educate people on the dangers of shark finning. -
David ShabelmanSee Dec. 9 post from Tech ConfidentialSee Dec. 10 report from CNN
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