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Not to sound like an asshole but we've read this type of "interviews with VCs" at least weekly lately...and they ALL say the same stuff over and over. Its all "

Not to sound like an asshole but we've read this type of "interviews with VCs" at least weekly lately...and they ALL say the same stuff over and over. Its all "great founders", "great market", "great team" dreamy stories.

richardknop 9y ago
I have the same feeling. These VC interviews all seem so alike. All of these dudes (it's mostly dudes) just repeat the same generic phrases and don't really say anything specific.
kenning 9y ago
If you're funding tons of weird little companies in the most disparate fields in the world, I can't imagine you get much depth in your knowledge.
austinjp 9y ago
Unfortunately I agree. I strongly suspect investors exhibit survivor bias, and assume causation where there is none. That's not to say it's all luck, or that they're dumb. Instead I feel they're simply unconsciously expert: they don't actually know what makes them good at what they do. Asking them how they do it elicits guesses. The fact that the guesses all sound the same suggests that either they're true, or there's an echo-chamber. There was a link posted here some months ago where an investor gave a frank account of how hard it is to invest, and how frequently he made terrible decisions and got burned, how time consuming it was, and so on. I think he actually said "don't become an investor if you want to make money, do it because you want to help people". Shame I can't find it now.
- pascalxus 9y ago
  This reminds of the story Stevie Yeggie wrote about teaching a Chicken to play the piano. He had the chicken peck at the piano, and everytime it hit the correct key, someone would give it pellet. By this method, the chicken could memorize how to play a simple melody. But, one day, the chicken introduced a random foot kick along with a correct key peck. The pellet still needed to be given to the chicken to reinforce the melody. Ever since then, the chicken kept pecking at the keys with a foot kick.

richardknop 9y ago

I have the same feeling. These VC interviews all seem so alike. All of these dudes (it's mostly dudes) just repeat the same generic phrases and don't really say anything specific.

kenning 9y ago

If you're funding tons of weird little companies in the most disparate fields in the world, I can't imagine you get much depth in your knowledge.

austinjp 9y ago

Unfortunately I agree. I strongly suspect investors exhibit survivor bias, and assume causation where there is none. That's not to say it's all luck, or that they're dumb. Instead I feel they're simply unconsciously expert: they don't actually know what makes them good at what they do. Asking them how they do it elicits guesses. The fact that the guesses all sound the same suggests that either they're true, or there's an echo-chamber. There was a link posted here some months ago where an investor gave a frank account of how hard it is to invest, and how frequently he made terrible decisions and got burned, how time consuming it was, and so on. I think he actually said "don't become an investor if you want to make money, do it because you want to help people". Shame I can't find it now.

pascalxus 9y ago
This reminds of the story Stevie Yeggie wrote about teaching a Chicken to play the piano. He had the chicken peck at the piano, and everytime it hit the correct key, someone would give it pellet. By this method, the chicken could memorize how to play a simple melody. But, one day, the chicken introduced a random foot kick along with a correct key peck. The pellet still needed to be given to the chicken to reinforce the melody. Ever since then, the chicken kept pecking at the keys with a foot kick.