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Honestly, I think that's true for a lot of VCs. They have to sound like they are smart and know the secrets of the industry so that entrepreneurs reach out to t

Honestly, I think that's true for a lot of VCs. They have to sound like they are smart and know the secrets of the industry so that entrepreneurs reach out to them (and many times on extremely skewed terms). But truth be told, a lot of VCs have been incredibly lucky with 1-2 bets they've made. Just a couple days ago was an article on front page of HN by Sam Altman about how to run a company, whereas he himself has had one failed startup. Softbank exists more or less because of a huuuuge bet on Alibaba which paid off. In the end, I doubt any of these "How to" articles hold up the test of perseverence. But survivor bias aside, it's still interesting to see how VCs think, and helps gain insight into their inner monologue.

jacquesm 8y ago
Not all VCs are created equal. We work for quite a few of them and the range of knowledge, connections, personalities, founder friendliness and ethics is quite broad. As a result of that there are VCs that you really don't want to have anything to do with and VCs that it is a pleasure to work with and that go to bat for the founders of the portfolio companies they've invested in with great regularity.
- Mononokay 8y ago
  I don't have any particular experience with VCs, but personality-wise the guys at SUSA(Susa? Capitalisation is annoying when it comes to logo vs Twitter) and Homebrew are miles ahead of 99% of the others I've seen, so my first impression is to agree with you.
- seehafer 8y ago
  I don’t have experience to say beyond seed stage, but at seed stage, especially given the explosion in funds, this is most definitely true. Even as a YC startup, VC interactions I’ve had have ranged from “I could give two shits about you” to “I’m a mensch even when I have to say no”. Founders remember who belongs in what camp and talk to each other about such things a lot.
- madmax108 8y ago
  Interesting. I wonder, is there something like a Yelp/Glassdoor for VCs? A site where people can post about their experiences with VCs, how they were helpful (Like you mentioned, some VC may be great for retail tech while others for moonshot ventures), where they were unhelpful. How hands on or hands off the approach they took was, how much they look at investing as a culture of growth rather than a business (both are valid options IMHO) and so on. Would really help entrepreneurs make the right choice when it comes to approaching investors right. Of course, this can further boil up or down to investment firms rather than individual investors, based on seried of funding etc.
  - jacquesm 8y ago
    We do this informally for EU VCs, we have a pretty good idea which start-up will match which VC in our network but we have to be careful to maintain our independence so VCs do not start to feel we are pressuring them to make an investment or that we are seen as a 'stamp of approval'. ("we", me and the team of people that I work with). Because it is a very small world and we're not the (by far) the strongest party in it a negative advice is something I would not do unless there is public evidence that a VC can not be trusted or is unethical.
irq11 8y ago
A former coworker of mine said this years ago, and it stuck with me: ”Silicon valley is full of people who stepped in shit once, and are therefore now experts on horses.”
- madmax108 8y ago
  Haha... this really needs to be framed somewhere

jacquesm 8y ago

Not all VCs are created equal. We work for quite a few of them and the range of knowledge, connections, personalities, founder friendliness and ethics is quite broad. As a result of that there are VCs that you really don't want to have anything to do with and VCs that it is a pleasure to work with and that go to bat for the founders of the portfolio companies they've invested in with great regularity.

Mononokay 8y ago
I don't have any particular experience with VCs, but personality-wise the guys at SUSA(Susa? Capitalisation is annoying when it comes to logo vs Twitter) and Homebrew are miles ahead of 99% of the others I've seen, so my first impression is to agree with you.
seehafer 8y ago
I don’t have experience to say beyond seed stage, but at seed stage, especially given the explosion in funds, this is most definitely true. Even as a YC startup, VC interactions I’ve had have ranged from “I could give two shits about you” to “I’m a mensch even when I have to say no”. Founders remember who belongs in what camp and talk to each other about such things a lot.
madmax108 8y ago
Interesting. I wonder, is there something like a Yelp/Glassdoor for VCs? A site where people can post about their experiences with VCs, how they were helpful (Like you mentioned, some VC may be great for retail tech while others for moonshot ventures), where they were unhelpful. How hands on or hands off the approach they took was, how much they look at investing as a culture of growth rather than a business (both are valid options IMHO) and so on. Would really help entrepreneurs make the right choice when it comes to approaching investors right. Of course, this can further boil up or down to investment firms rather than individual investors, based on seried of funding etc.
- jacquesm 8y ago
  We do this informally for EU VCs, we have a pretty good idea which start-up will match which VC in our network but we have to be careful to maintain our independence so VCs do not start to feel we are pressuring them to make an investment or that we are seen as a 'stamp of approval'. ("we", me and the team of people that I work with). Because it is a very small world and we're not the (by far) the strongest party in it a negative advice is something I would not do unless there is public evidence that a VC can not be trusted or is unethical.

irq11 8y ago

A former coworker of mine said this years ago, and it stuck with me: ”Silicon valley is full of people who stepped in shit once, and are therefore now experts on horses.”

madmax108 8y ago
Haha... this really needs to be framed somewhere