LaSorda Starts Venture Capital Fund With Roger Penske. Kinda, Sorda

Bertel Schmitt
by Bertel Schmitt

Those were the days, my friends: LaSorda, Wagoner, Mulally

Tom LaSorda, formerly CEO of Chrysler and before that a key man at GM, will lose a lot of money when Fisker goes down and/or bankrupt and/or is sold for pennies on the dollar. The man has a plan to recoup his losses: He started his own venture fund with racing and auto dealing magnate Roger Penske, as Reuters has it.

LaSorda left Chrysler after its 2009 bankruptcy. He later started a venture capital fund called Stage 2 Innovations with Manoj Bhargava of 5-Hour Energy drink fame. That deal brought LaSorda to Fisker. LaSorda invested in the startup, only to become CEO of Fisker, tasked with reorganizing the already teetering company. Six months later, LaSorda was out, and Tony Posawatz of Volt fame was in. That didn’t help either.

LaSorda’s new fund is called IncWell LP, and it “will provide initial investments ranging from $50,000 and $250,000. IncWell has “strong interests” in the areas of clean energy, medical, healthcare, transportation and information applications,” says Reuters.

In the VC biz, initial investments of $50,000 to $250,000 are seen as bupkis and barely cover the lawyers’ fees for the stockholder memo. A typical angel investment in a small garage-type technology startup is a few millions. Venture capital funds can be a great business. As my friend, who runs such a fund, and who invested a few million in a company which we then gloriously ran into the ground liked to tell me: “Don’t worry, Bertel, if it goes wrong. Typically, one out of 15 goes right. And that brings in a lot of money.”

Also, the trick seems to be to find other people who invest into your fund. Then, you can’t lose at all.

Bertel Schmitt
Bertel Schmitt

Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.

More by Bertel Schmitt

Comments
Join the conversation
4 of 7 comments
  • Doug Doug on May 23, 2013

    Interesting that LaSorda would team up with Penseke, given that the Penseke owned dealerships have dropped Fisker and are refusing to service even the Karmas that they sold.

  • DrunkMike DrunkMike on May 23, 2013

    Just wow... I wish I could make his money (over and over and over again) with his pristine record of abject and total failure.

  • Skor Skor on May 23, 2013

    Wagoner looks like some pee-ed in his corn flakes.

  • BklynPete BklynPete on May 24, 2013

    Waggoner knew someone was about to pee in his corn flakes. His name is Steve Rattner.

Next