4 ms·

Bessemer Ventures Anti-Portfolio

74 points by jkuria 6y ago

speps 6y ago
Previous discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15547136 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15547136
netman21 6y ago
I am sure they left many out. Check Point Software for one.
AznHisoka 6y ago
I know they wouldn’t risk their reputation to do but I had hoped this was a list of companies they are betting will do poorly in the coming years.
itschekkers 6y ago
this is really just self-congratulation by them about how they have strong deal flow. they also use this as a disingenuous/insincere way of rejecting founders (we don't want to invest, but you're probably one of the other unicorns we didn't invest in! check out out antiportfolio!)
- godzillabrennus 6y ago
  Thanks for this. Just reminds me how much I hate the entire business model of venture capital circa 2020. If you are a founder just remember that raising capital is a tool just like any other. Misuse of it can be disastrous for your business. I’d encourage more entrepreneurs to build companies like Basecamp.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- sqs 6y ago
  It is indeed difficult to communicate one’s own humility.
jkuria 6y ago
Seattle-based OVP Partners which shut down a few years ago also had a interesting anti-portfolio page. The Starbucks story was hilarious: “A guy walks into your office some time in the late 1980s and says he wants to open a chain of retail shops selling a commodity product you can get anywhere for 25 cents, but he will charge 2 dollars. Of course, you listen politely, and then fall off your chair laughing when he leaves. Howard Schultz didn’t see this as humorous. And we didn’t make 500 times our money.” OVP believed that there was no market for Starbucks’ premium coffee, which may indeed have been the prevailing wisdom at the time,
wqTJ3jmY8br4RWa 6y ago
Considering how many of the anti-portfolio DavidC seems to have missed, I wonder how he still has a job?
- 6510 6y ago
  If I had a peanut for every trader talking in hindsight what he should have done I would be pretty sick of peanuts by now.

74 points by jkuria 6y ago

speps 6y ago

Previous discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15547136 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15547136

netman21 6y ago

I am sure they left many out. Check Point Software for one.

AznHisoka 6y ago

I know they wouldn’t risk their reputation to do but I had hoped this was a list of companies they are betting will do poorly in the coming years.

itschekkers 6y ago

this is really just self-congratulation by them about how they have strong deal flow. they also use this as a disingenuous/insincere way of rejecting founders (we don't want to invest, but you're probably one of the other unicorns we didn't invest in! check out out antiportfolio!)

godzillabrennus 6y ago
Thanks for this. Just reminds me how much I hate the entire business model of venture capital circa 2020. If you are a founder just remember that raising capital is a tool just like any other. Misuse of it can be disastrous for your business. I’d encourage more entrepreneurs to build companies like Basecamp.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
sqs 6y ago
It is indeed difficult to communicate one’s own humility.

jkuria 6y ago

Seattle-based OVP Partners which shut down a few years ago also had a interesting anti-portfolio page. The Starbucks story was hilarious: “A guy walks into your office some time in the late 1980s and says he wants to open a chain of retail shops selling a commodity product you can get anywhere for 25 cents, but he will charge 2 dollars. Of course, you listen politely, and then fall off your chair laughing when he leaves. Howard Schultz didn’t see this as humorous. And we didn’t make 500 times our money.” OVP believed that there was no market for Starbucks’ premium coffee, which may indeed have been the prevailing wisdom at the time,

wqTJ3jmY8br4RWa 6y ago

Considering how many of the anti-portfolio DavidC seems to have missed, I wonder how he still has a job?

6510 6y ago
If I had a peanut for every trader talking in hindsight what he should have done I would be pretty sick of peanuts by now.