The VC pros didn't want to help him democratize their cozy world of triple-digit gains from bets on promising start-ups. But the former medical student was determined to let small investors get into the hottest game around
You Too Can Be A High Roller
By DANIEL EISENBERG

When former biotech analyst Peter Freudenthal floated a plan for a publicly traded venture-capital fund last year, he learned how radical an idea it was. As he made the rounds of the venture capitalists on Sand Hill Road in Menlo Park, Calif., he found they didn't want to open their cozy world to hordes of retail investors. VCs were doing fine logging triple-digit gains by making early bets on dotcoms before they went public and swimming in cash raised from the likes of pension funds and the wealthiest individual investors.

But Freudenthal, 37, doesn't give up on an idea easily. He got all the way through Yale School of Medicine before deciding that a financial career would be more to his liking. He was determined to "democratize venture capital" and teamed up with Andy Singer, a colleague from San Francisco's Robertson Stephens investment firm. They finally corralled Tim Draper, a veteran VC, who wrote them a check for $4.5 million.

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Name: Peter Freudenthal
Age: 37
Why critics are taking note: Freudenthal aimed to democratize venture capital — and now anyone can take the risk
meVC

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PHOTOS: Amy Domini by STEVE LISS FOR TIME,
Peter Freudenthal Photo Courtesy of meVC,
Jean-Pierre Gloton by SERGE PICARD/VU,
Richmond McCoy by JONATHAN SAUNDERS FOR TIME,
David Pullman by MICHAEL GRECCO FOR TIME,
Gerald Putnam photo illustration by AARON GOODMAN FOR TIME
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