Deals

Sun Microsystems Co-Founder Says Startups Should Launch Now

  • Scott McNealy is backing Conversion Capital’s $50 million fund
  • CAA co-founder Michael Ovitz is also a backer of the fund
Scott McNealyPhotographer: Chip East/Bloomberg
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One of Silicon Valley’s founding pioneers is joining a new venture capital fund to back startups on the notion that the highest unemployment since the Great Depression makes it an optimal time to start a company.

Scott McNealy, who co-founded Sun Microsystems Inc. and then sold it to Oracle Corp. for $7.4 billion in the wake of the financial crisis, said the current downturn is the right moment to launch a business.