As an entrepreneur, Jason Krikorian benefited handsomely from the advice of savvy early-stage venture capitalists. Now he's trying to return the favor.

A general partner with Silicon Valley venture capital firm DCM, Krikorian, 40, did the Silicon Valley startup thing, and succeeded quite nicely. He and his brother Blake (who in September joined Amazon.com Inc.'s board of directors) in 2004 founded Sling Media Inc., the maker of the Slingbox, which pioneered TV viewing over portable devices. The company was acquired in 2007 by EchoStar Corp. for $380 million in cash. DCM had been Sling Media's largest VC investor and played a big role in developing the startup's strategy. The Menlo Park, Calif.-based venture capital firm reaped a handsome 10 times return on its Sling Media investment.

Now that he's with DCM, Krikorian is helping to run the early-stage venture firm's first strategically focused fund. It's called the A-Fund, a $100 million vehicle that backs startups developing applications for Google Inc.'s Android mobile operating system. It's the first investment fund targeted specifically at boosting the ecosystem of Android startups. The other big mobile application platform, Apple Inc.'s iOS, which powers iPhones and iPads, already has its own high-profile, dedicated investment fund, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers' iFund.

DCM this month unveiled the first of seven investments made by the A-Fund, which was launched in April. The Deal magazine spoke with Krikorian about the fund and about evolving from entrepreneur to investor.

The Deal magazine: What sparked the notion of launching the A-Fund?

Jason Krikorian: With the six main funds we've had, there have been strategic investors, but most of the LP base has been what you'd expect: funds-of-funds and university endowments. We never really had a goal to build a strategically focused fund.

But early this year, a couple of our general partners were having dinner with some of our corporate partners in Japan from KDDI Corp. [Japan's second-largest mobile operator] and Gree Inc. [Japan's top social gaming network]. The conversation turned to Android and the impact it would have on their business. Japan has historically been insular from a tech point of view, especially in mobile. They talked about the two truly global mobile platforms, which have opened up new opportunities and threats in ways they hadn't seen before. The question was how do they find opportunities to bring their business into other regions and scout the world for talent and technology. Out of that grew the effort to launch this fund.

We've added [Chinese Internet service portal] Tencent Holdings Ltd. and other strategic LPs as well that we haven't announced yet.

Is the fund primarily focused on investments in Asia?

Of the investments we just announced, we have three in the U.S., two in China and one in Korea. That said, the companies are pretty global in nature.

You've got [Android social gaming network] PapayaMobile, which is run by a former Google China person [Si Shen]. Its main customer base is in the U.S.

Did Kleiner Perkins' iFund serve as a model for the A-Fund or play any part in inspiring it?

This was really an organic development that seemed to make sense on its own. As a firm, you need to think about your resources and your ability to effectively deploy investment dollars. This fund was really driven by those conversations.

Of key importance at DCM is the business development value we provide to our portfolio companies.

When I was at Sling Media, DCM helped me find partners to take on some of the risk. The same thing is happening with this fund and the strategic partners we've brought in.

Any sort of relationship or collaboration with Google?

Nothing official, but there have been friendly conversations and support. As you might expect, Google's happy to see these activities going on.

One of the reasons you ended up at DCM is the relationship you built with the firm while at Sling Media. Did you stay with EchoStar after the acquisition?

I stayed for about 1-1/2 years. I left in January 2009; the week I left was the week I had my third child. The week we started Sling was the week we had our first child.

After our third child, it was nice to have some time at home and to volunteer at school. After about 18 months, I came on board at DCM.

No, that's not the case with me. With early-stage investing, I get enough exposure to what really excites me: creation and early team- and product-building. That's fun to deal with, and it's also nice to be free of some of the operating headaches.