A couple of weeks ago, TechCrunch wrote a piece that asked whether venture firms could count on their LPs — considering that a lot of wealthy individuals are now watching their net worth slip away like sands in an hourglass.

Today I discussed that scenario with Mac Hofeditz, a partner with San Francisco-based fund placement firm Probitas Partners. We also talked about fund-raising activity, and what the credit crunch and acne have in common (he said it, not me).

Should VCs be worried about their LPs?

Unless a firm’s LPs are comprised of mostly wealthy individuals, no. Legitimate institutions aren’t going to have trouble funding their commitments. Institutional LPs are diversified and most of them match their commitments with their ability to fund, so maybe they’ll pull back on new commitments, but as far as fulfilling existing commitments, I don’t think that’s a concern. Even the institutions that have gone out of business are still liable for their commitments. The asset management arm of Lehman Brothers was just purchased [for $2.15 billion] by Bain Capital and Hellman & Friedman. So it’s an ongoing entity [now called Neuberger Investment Management]; it just has new owners.

You almost sound blasé about this financial crisis.

Not at all. The tech crash of 2000, 2001 is so insignificant relative to this crash that it’s not even a pimple on the face of the credit crunch.

That’s a really gross analogy.

Sorry. My point is that during the bubble’s burst, some venture-backed companies were hurt, but not a lot of other people were. The credit crisis is so exponentially more significant, it’s hard to articulate. That said, companies that are growing revenues and producing interesting products are probably going to continue to be attractive to investors.

I’m sure it’s a good time to find some deals. Aren’t many LPs pulling back and waiting to see what happens, though?

I’m sure some are, but people should be going long on risk right now. Times like these are what separate the men from the boys — and the women from the girls. It’s being able to take risk when everyone is selling it. It’s now when you make money. The people who poured money into big buyout funds at the top of the market in 2007, for example — they’re the ones you want to buy from right now. They’re the ones who made bad investments.

So you’re saying they should be investing, but are they?

Fund-raising has definitely slowed as people try to assess the situation. It’s hard to tell if it’ll be a complete shutdown or a pause, though. Certainly, this quarter, the industry has seen fundraising slow dramatically.

What does that mean in real terms? If you haven’t closed your fund yet, good luck to you?

It probably won’t happen today, but quality funds that should get raised will get raised. People are still going to put money behind interesting investment opportunities. Funds that don’t deserve to get raised won’t. Marginal funds aren’t going to make it.

What’s going to interest a nervous LP right now?

Well, non-correlated strategies for one. Asset intensive things that have actual intrinsic value that don’t require a lot of leverage to close, or where the GP can access nontraditional leverage sources, like mezzanine funds, at a reasonable price.

People are also generally looking at funds that attack less competitive niches, like growth equity, lower-middle market stuff and some of the smaller funds that have proprietary deal sources and aren’t in the situation of having to compete in bake-offs with other funds.

Do firms other than top players have such options?

Yes, there are other smaller funds that are doing less competitive Series A stuff, where pre-money valuations are below $15 million. And a lot of people are missing them. A lot of LPs don’t understand the asset class anymore. They don’t understand that a lot of the big brand-name firms put associates on the board who don’t add a lot of value because of the volume of dollars the firms need to invest, given their fund sizes.

That may be true. But isn’t it fair to say that you have an interest in promoting new firms, like several whose funds you’ve raised in the last year?

We have worked on new funds, including IDG [Ventures], Scale [Venture Partners], and Panoroma Capital in the last year. But Shasta [Ventures, which also teamed up with Probitas for its inaugural fund in 2005] is really doing a great job of owning its niche.

Growth equity funds and early-stage –  you’re covering the gamut. Are you really feeling that optimistic about the venture industry right now?

I don’t think venture is suffering. I think real growth  companies aren’t totally effected by the credit crisis. I also think the tech sector is holding up well. Oracle blew out numbers last quarter, a sign that tech is less impacted [than other sectors]. Will it be immune? No. But will it be less immune? Hopefully, yes.