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My perspective from the VC side is similar to Austen's (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17284114 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17284114): a lot of V
by lpolovets 8y ago
My perspective from the VC side is similar to Austen's (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17284114 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17284114): a lot of VCs are neutral, some are very helpful, and others are destructive. I've seen this dynamic from both talking to founders about whether they find investors helpful, and from sitting in on board meetings where other investors are present. The best way to understand what kind of investor you're talking to is to reach out to a handful of founders they've worked with and ask them about their experiences.
A few other observations from my 5-6 years so far in VC:
* Founders spend 3000 hours/year focusing on their business and domain while investors spend 3000 hours/year learning about hundreds of business and hundreds of domains. As a result, >95% of the time founders know way more about their specific business than their investors. On the other hand, >95% of the time investors know more than founders about cross-business strategies and ideas. So investor advice is best when it's related to their broader perspective: what kind of recruiting channels work best for the 50 companies they work with? What are tips for negotiating a contract? What are good pricing strategies? How early do companies typically hire a VP of Eng? Most investors won't be helpful for domain-specific questions like "will power plant operators really want this feature in my SaaS product?" or "what's the best marketing channel for reaching power plant operators?"
* Even for a single investor, their helpfulness will vary company to company. My guess is that if you polled the founders I've worked with, 1/3 would say I'm very helpful, 1/3 would say I'm somewhat helpful, and 1/3 would say I haven't helped much. I hope/think none of the founders would say I subtract more than I add. Sometimes it turns out I can help a lot, like if you're looking for a VP of Eng and I know a great candidate who is looking for a job. Other times I can't help at all, like if you want to be introduced to power plant owners and I don't know a single one. I do my best to help when I can and stay out of the way when I can't.