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>> This is also why I hate VC's (PG included), they force you to become inward focused rather than seeking external inputs (IE: Customers). In my humble and li
by aberman 16y ago
>> This is also why I hate VC's (PG included), they force you to become inward focused rather than seeking external inputs (IE: Customers).
In my humble and limited experience with both PG and VCs, the focus has always been on customers.
I'm surprised that you include PG in your sweeping statement. He is a pretty outspoken advocate of launching early, listening to customers, and iterating.
Do you mind sharing where you get your perspective?
- spitfire 16y agoIt's mostly all included in my comment. But Paul is simply a lesser evil. I'm a bit older than most founders - I remember the dotcom bubble. I watched the absurdity as vulture capital tore through many good developers in the late 1990's early 2000's. I've come to realize that anything that takes away from your iteration loop kills you. The instant you take VC money (Paul's included) you now have a focus away from your customers towards inward interests. You have to worry about raising money, about the next round, about that meeting next week. Over time, customers stuffer. Right now Ycombinator is the darling of the "startup" scene, but my opinion is that the "startup" scene is a bad place to be for building a company. (Great place for a quick exit though! But the odds of that are poor.) Whatever their intentions, VC money alters your fledgling company in a harmful way. A quick browse at all the news items on this site about "navigating VC world" and raising capital, and convincing VC's of X should be evidence enough. That time is better spent navigating product strategy, raising customers and selling product.