Should Facebook Venture into Venture Capital?

Leena Rao and Josh Constine from TechCrunch say that a lot of Facebook’s top employees have been working for the company since college or right after graduation.  Some of these employees feel that they’ve achieved enough and are beginning to explore different areas of their careers.  It has nothing to do with disliking the company and everything to do with finding a new outlet that will provide them with fresh challenges.  The extension of a VC arm would fill these employees needs, and most likely increase the employee retention rate.

FBVC could also provide a place for employees to settle in to a new spot as an EIR and figure out what their next step will be.  Palihapitiya says that talent needs this time as EIR to get their bearing and figure out what direction they want to go.  In the past year, Palihapitiya has been able to snag several key product managers from Facebook.  What was the goal for these individuals?  Simply to network and figure out their next play in their career.  He says that the best case scenario is that they will begin to team up with other product managers who have aligned interests and create their own startup.  If FBVC existed, maybe some of these managers would have opted to stay with the company, since it would allow them to still be a part of Facebook without having to work on executing the product or the business.

Apple has gone a different direction than Google, using a general investment strategy that acquires talent and companies that fit the technology and product strategies of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL).  They have made it very clear that they are a closed environment, and once you leave Apple, your cut off from the mothership.  Google has instead created a network of ecosystems that allow it’s employees to jump to different positions without being stripped over their Google DNA.

Facebook will eventually have to decide if it wants to go down the Apple-path or the Google-path.  But as Facebook grows into the Internet giant it has already become, it will need to stay on top of it’s game and do everything in it’s power to avoid stagnation that leads to disruption.  This means acquiring the best talent and working on keeping them there for the long-haul.  Providing this second option of the company could very well be the right incentive to do this.

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