From Boardroom to Benchtop: Paul LaViolette Joins SVLS
This article was originally published in Start Up
Executive Summary
Paul LaViolette spent more than a decade at Boston Scientific where, among other things, he helped build the company into a cardiovascular powerhouse. LaViolette announced his retirement from BSC last year and after considering a number of opportunities, decided to join Boston-based SVLS as a venture partner. LaViolette enters venture investing at a challenging time, during which the industry will face what he calls "a Darwinian process with more operational pressure" at start-ups and a likely weeding out of many companies. In this interview, LaViolette describes how the venture world of 2008 feels a lot like Boston Scientific in 1993 -- a world of small, driven companies with huge operational challenges and huge opportunities.