VCs to Startups: Worked At Cisco? We Want You.

If you work at Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) and want to start a new company, venture capitalists will probably want to meet you.

That’s because they like Cisco’s ability to nurture creative, innovative people.

“I very much believe that hiring and recruiting people from successful teams is important,” Jason Matlof, a partner at Battery Ventures, told NetworkWorld. “And I think Cisco is at the top of the list.”

Matlof also used to work at Cisco.

Carl Stjernfeldt, a general partner at Castile Ventures, told the publication he, too, eyes startups from Cisco with great interest. He likes that Cisco retains the key people from small companies it has acquired. That way they see how a behemoth company runs before they leave to start new firms.

Overall, Cisco’s industry pedigree “really makes a difference,” Charles Beeler, a general partner at El Dorado Ventures, told NetworkWorld.