3 ms·
> I'd love to see more successful people in charge of who gets funded and who does not. On the other hand, a successful startup founder has seen one story. Let
by tyre 8y ago
> I'd love to see more successful people in charge of who gets funded and who does not.
On the other hand, a successful startup founder has seen one story. Let's say they went from founding to exit in 10 years. They know everything there is to know about their company, their market, and their specific journey. A lot of that is execution. Some of it is also luck (timing, uncontrolled variables like competitors screwing up or incumbents moving slowly or whatever.)
That focus is great for the success of a single company, but investing isn't like that. There isn't one story. What worked for Airbnb or Dropbox or Gusto might be what the company in front of you needs to do. It also might be the worst thing for them to focus on.
So having a wide range of experiences to pull from—whether that is working at companies in various industries, advising founders at different stages and/or around different issues (hiring, product strategy, technical architecture, etc.)—and thinking through a wide range of problem might be a better background for investing.
VCs don't dive deep on a single company and devote everything to it. They have to be more flexible. Their "founder/market fit" isn't one market, it's a meta-level above that.
None of this is to discount the experience or expertise or value of successful founders (that would be absurd) but just to say that it may not be the case that the most successful founders would be the best VCs. It may actually be the opposite!
For parallels, the best players in many sports are horrible coaches, owners, general managers, etc. The "smartest" people in academia are rarely the best teachers. They are different skillsets. The important thing is to match the skillset of the individual with the role. "Successful company founder" sounds like it would be close, since that's what you want—more successful company founders—but what you actually need is a bit different.