General Investing >> Money Manager Interviews >> September 22, 2009
Standish M. Fleming is a 23-year veteran of early-stage venture capital
investing. Mr. Fleming has helped raise and manage six venture funds totaling
more than $500 million and has served on the boards of 19 venture-backed
companies. He has extensive experience in all aspects of venture management and
finance, including fund-raising, investor relations, operations and portfolio
development. He has made investments, managed portfolio companies, raised funds,
pursued business development, taken companies public and successfully exited
investments through public-market sales and buyouts. In 1993, Mr. Fleming co-
founded Forward Ventures. In his capacity as a founding managing member he has
made investments in almost every segment of the health-care industry, including
pharmaceuticals, biologics, diagnostics, devices, services and software. He has
managed both platform and product companies/investments in the portfolio and led
or participated in financings at all levels from pre-start-up to PIPES in public
companies, in both debt and equity. Mr. Fleming enjoys extensive networks
throughout the venture, entrepreneurial, scientific, medical and pharmaceutical
communities. Venture funds he has managed have made investments in more than 70
private and public companies, a number of which have gone public and/or been
acquired by pharmaceutical companies. He has helped start more than 15 companies
and served as founding CEO of eight. Mr. Fleming serves as a director of
CONNECT, San Diego's support organization for the academic-to-early-stage
community, and is a past president of the Biotechnology Venture Investors Group.
Before establishing Forward Ventures, he began his career with Ventana Growth
Funds in San Diego in 1986. Mr. Fleming earned his BA degree from Amherst
College and his MBA degree from the UCLA Graduate School of Management. Profile
TWST: Please tell us about your firm, Forward Ventures, and what you do there.
Mr. Fleming: Forward Ventures is a venture capital firm located in San Diego. We have about $450 million under management
