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a16z ("our" partner was Chris Dixon) led our seed round at Wit.ai. Working with them on a day-to-day basis was an incredible experience. They never asked for an

by ar7hur 8y ago

a16z ("our" partner was Chris Dixon) led our seed round at Wit.ai. Working with them on a day-to-day basis was an incredible experience. They never asked for anything, but were always ready to jump in instantly when we needed anything from sales intros to offices in Palo Alto. When we got an offer from Facebook we founders wanted to accept it. They initially disagreed with us, but once we confirmed our decision they supported us 100% in the negotiation process. That's what I call class.

raywu 8y ago
Thanks for sharing this.
navigatesol 8y ago
>They never asked for anything, but were always ready to jump in instantly when we needed anything from sales intros to offices in Palo Alto. When we got an offer from Facebook we founders wanted to accept it. They initially disagreed with us, but once we confirmed our decision they supported us 100% in the negotiation process. That's what I call class. As an outsider, I'm curious as to how bad the VC situation is in SV that doing your job is called out as exceptional. How common are the "Russ Hanneman's"?
- randall 8y ago
  Russ Hanneman is a pretty accurate portrayal of a combination of of any average real estate / non domain investor / rich person + the worst parts of someone like Jason Calacanis. Jason has a lot of upside (i used to work with him), but he brings a lot of "swag" which I think Russ Hanneman is based on. The non domain investor is the part where they tell you to work on ridiculous shit but have lots of money so they expect you to listen even though it's a horrible idea.
- rattray 8y ago
  It's a good question. The VC situation _outside_ of SV is generally considered much worse as far as I know. Such that characters in the HBO show would be depressingly accurate or even lightened up a bit. There are great investors everywhere, but "a deal with the devil" can be the nature of most VC investments if you're not lucky/careful (disclaimer, 2nd/3rd hand)
smallgovt 8y ago
It's interesting this is the top voted comment when it isn't really substantive to the article's subject matter.
- rattray 8y ago
  As a would-be founder, this new move from A16Z makes me worry they won't focus on helping startups like this anymore. Anecdotes like this help quell that fear a bit, even if wrongly.
  - ALittleLight 8y ago
    Why would you want to wrongly quell a fear?
    - rattray 8y ago
      I want to adjust my fear to the real level of risk/uncertainty; in this case, that's still above zero, but the anecdote above helps drop it down.
    - sokoloff 8y ago
      Why would you assume that wrongly quells the fear? I would tend to assume that the demonstrated character (good or bad, good in this example) of the principals of A16Z would remain the same across the company change.
      - ALittleLight 8y ago
        I'm not assuming anything. The comment I'm replying to states that this helps to quell a fear "even if wrongly". To me, this seems like saying that removing the batteries from your smoke alarm will help you sleep, even through house fires.
- gwern 8y ago
  Seems substantive to me: it's a testimony from a founder working with a16z about the benefits of the 'services' model of a16z.
malgorithms 8y ago
a16z - also Chris Dixon - led our round at Keybase. We only have great things to say about both the firm and Chris. Chris sits on our board and has been a class act the whole time. Also: during our fundraising, we faced a number of the "Monday pitch meetings" -- this is where you've gone through the early crap talking with VC's and are invited in to pitch to the partners. It's typically the last step before an offer. a16z's partner meeting was, by far, the most tech-savvy and aware group. It seems obvious that VC's would understand the technology they're investing in, but honestly, that's often not the case. We faced a lot of brand-name VC firms that couldn't understand what we were working on. We'd get a sense of that and quickly adjust our pitch to focus on what they could understand. For those asking "Why give them so much credit when they're just doing their job?" -- there are special occasions when a startup's interests and its investors' interests are not aligned. The first big opportunity for a VC to mess with you is the period between a letter of intent and closing the round, when all the smaller details come up and are negotiated. a16z was excellent in the process and we closed quickly without issue. A later possibility of disagreement is what ar7hur describes here, and here's why it happens: VC's have zero risk aversion and aim to maximize expected value in dollars, which is what you'd want as an investor in the VC. But especially if you're a first-time founder, your dollar-to-utility curve is anything bit linear. Most humans wouldn't trade $5 million for a 1-in-10 chance at $100 million. This discrepancy is the source of a lot of possible problems. How VC's behave during both subsequent rounds and possible exits is perhaps the most important measure of them from a founder's perspective. tl;dr very happy with a16z and Chris Dixon.
- tixocloud 8y ago
  Did you guys ever eventually work with VC firms who didn't understand your product? I get a sense that there might be a big mismatch but wonder how much that really affects things day to day.
tixocloud 8y ago
Great note to hear that there are legitimate VCs like a16z who aren't just after their own interests. Did you work with other investors as well? If so, would love to contact you privately regarding your experiences as I'm looking to fundraise soon.

by ar7hur 8y ago

raywu 8y ago

Thanks for sharing this.

navigatesol 8y ago

>They never asked for anything, but were always ready to jump in instantly when we needed anything from sales intros to offices in Palo Alto. When we got an offer from Facebook we founders wanted to accept it. They initially disagreed with us, but once we confirmed our decision they supported us 100% in the negotiation process. That's what I call class. As an outsider, I'm curious as to how bad the VC situation is in SV that doing your job is called out as exceptional. How common are the "Russ Hanneman's"?

randall 8y ago
Russ Hanneman is a pretty accurate portrayal of a combination of of any average real estate / non domain investor / rich person + the worst parts of someone like Jason Calacanis. Jason has a lot of upside (i used to work with him), but he brings a lot of "swag" which I think Russ Hanneman is based on. The non domain investor is the part where they tell you to work on ridiculous shit but have lots of money so they expect you to listen even though it's a horrible idea.
rattray 8y ago
It's a good question. The VC situation _outside_ of SV is generally considered much worse as far as I know. Such that characters in the HBO show would be depressingly accurate or even lightened up a bit. There are great investors everywhere, but "a deal with the devil" can be the nature of most VC investments if you're not lucky/careful (disclaimer, 2nd/3rd hand)

smallgovt 8y ago

It's interesting this is the top voted comment when it isn't really substantive to the article's subject matter.

rattray 8y ago
As a would-be founder, this new move from A16Z makes me worry they won't focus on helping startups like this anymore. Anecdotes like this help quell that fear a bit, even if wrongly.
- ALittleLight 8y ago
  Why would you want to wrongly quell a fear?
  - rattray 8y ago
    I want to adjust my fear to the real level of risk/uncertainty; in this case, that's still above zero, but the anecdote above helps drop it down.
  - sokoloff 8y ago
    Why would you assume that wrongly quells the fear? I would tend to assume that the demonstrated character (good or bad, good in this example) of the principals of A16Z would remain the same across the company change.
    - ALittleLight 8y ago
      I'm not assuming anything. The comment I'm replying to states that this helps to quell a fear "even if wrongly". To me, this seems like saying that removing the batteries from your smoke alarm will help you sleep, even through house fires.
gwern 8y ago
Seems substantive to me: it's a testimony from a founder working with a16z about the benefits of the 'services' model of a16z.

malgorithms 8y ago

a16z - also Chris Dixon - led our round at Keybase. We only have great things to say about both the firm and Chris. Chris sits on our board and has been a class act the whole time. Also: during our fundraising, we faced a number of the "Monday pitch meetings" -- this is where you've gone through the early crap talking with VC's and are invited in to pitch to the partners. It's typically the last step before an offer. a16z's partner meeting was, by far, the most tech-savvy and aware group. It seems obvious that VC's would understand the technology they're investing in, but honestly, that's often not the case. We faced a lot of brand-name VC firms that couldn't understand what we were working on. We'd get a sense of that and quickly adjust our pitch to focus on what they could understand. For those asking "Why give them so much credit when they're just doing their job?" -- there are special occasions when a startup's interests and its investors' interests are not aligned. The first big opportunity for a VC to mess with you is the period between a letter of intent and closing the round, when all the smaller details come up and are negotiated. a16z was excellent in the process and we closed quickly without issue. A later possibility of disagreement is what ar7hur describes here, and here's why it happens: VC's have zero risk aversion and aim to maximize expected value in dollars, which is what you'd want as an investor in the VC. But especially if you're a first-time founder, your dollar-to-utility curve is anything bit linear. Most humans wouldn't trade $5 million for a 1-in-10 chance at $100 million. This discrepancy is the source of a lot of possible problems. How VC's behave during both subsequent rounds and possible exits is perhaps the most important measure of them from a founder's perspective. tl;dr very happy with a16z and Chris Dixon.

tixocloud 8y ago
Did you guys ever eventually work with VC firms who didn't understand your product? I get a sense that there might be a big mismatch but wonder how much that really affects things day to day.

tixocloud 8y ago

Great note to hear that there are legitimate VCs like a16z who aren't just after their own interests. Did you work with other investors as well? If so, would love to contact you privately regarding your experiences as I'm looking to fundraise soon.