Red Herring List of Top 100 Global Venture Capitalists hits top of BS rankings

Come on! This is absurd. 12 (secret but hinted at vaguely) benchmark indices are combined in some bizarre way to produce the biggest piece of BS imaginable.

Red Herring - taking the name too literally?

True, many of these firms are among the best in the business but how can anyone produce such a piece of ridiculous nonsense and expect it to have any weight without publishing some sort of methodology. The reality of this list is that VCs can only ultimately be measured on one metric, LP returns. No investor would share something like that for a list so you have to make it up and rely on what you are told.

I know some of these funds are walking dead already – and how on earth can you produce a list that does not include Union Square Ventures (Brad Burnham, Fred Wilson and Albert Wenger), probably one of the most innovative venture investors of recent times with a portfolio including Boxee, Covestor, Twitter and Zemanta amongst others.

“Top 100 Global Venture Capitalists

01. Accel Partners

02. Softbank

03. Index Ventures

04. Sequoia Capital

05. Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers

06. DCM

07. Insight Venture Partners

08. Draper Fisher Jurveston

09. Sofinnova Partners

10. Matrix Partners

11. New Enterprise Associates

12. Bessemer Venture Capital

13. Greylock Partners

14. Wellington Partners

15. Khosla Ventures

16. Norwest Venture Partners

17. Benchmark Capital

18. TVM Capital

19. Battery Ventures

20. Lightspeed Venture Capital

21. August Capital

22. Pitango Venture Capital

23. GRP Partners

24. IDGVC Venture Partners

25. Alta Partners

26. Trident Capital

27. Institutional Venture Partners

28. Allegis Capital

29. Legend Capital

30. Reliance Technology Ventures

31. InterWest Partners

32. Mangrove Partners

33. Banexi Ventures

34. Technology Crossover Partners

35. Foundation Capital

36. Charles River Ventures

37. Mayfield Venture Capital

38. JAFCO Ventures

39. Redpoint Ventures

40. Menlo Ventures

41. Azure Capital Partners

42. Oak Investment Partners

43. US Venture Partners

44. Balderton Capital Management

45. Mohr Davidow Ventures

46. Carmel Ventures

47. Amadeus Capital Partners

48. Globespan Capital Partners

49. BDC Venture

50. Venrock Associates

51. Canaan Partners

52. CDH Ventures

53. FTQ

54. Polaris Venture Partners

55. General Catalyst Partners

56. Sierra Ventures

57. CDC Innovation

58. Atlas Ventures

59. Globis Capital

60. Highland Capital Partners

61. Crescendo Ventures

62. Ignition Partners

63. Nexus India Capital

64. Trinity ventures

65. Hummer Winblad Venture Partners

66. Sigma Partners

67. Allen Buckridge Ventures

68. Walden International

69. Northern Light Venture Capital

70. Doughty Hanson Technology Ventures

71. Morgenthaler Ventures

72. CMEA Ventures

73. KTB Venture

74. Tallwood Venture Capital

75. ATA Ventures

76. Shenzen Capital Group

77. Vengrowth Capital Fund

78. Early Bird

79. Jerusalem Venture Partners

80. Advent Ventures

81. Northzone Capital

82. Southern Cross Venture Partners

83. Emergence Capital Partners

84. Artiman Ventures

85. GSR Venture

86. Bluerun Ventures

87. GGV Capital

88. Garnett and Helfrich Capital

89. Granite Ventures

90. Vantage Point Venture Partners

91. Shasta Ventures

92. iGlobe Partners

93. DN Capital

94. Northcap Partners

95. Partech Ventures

96. Scale Venture Partners

97. Mustang Ventures

98. Gemini Israel Fund

99. Gabriel Venture Partners

100. Zone Venture Capital”

If you make up a list, either, (a) make the criteria transparent, or (b) say it is made up and list the people that made it up, then let others contribute their ideas.