3 ms·

The part about Nguyen was frustrating. It's hard to imagine a more honest hypocrisy than explicitly saying, on the record, that one will be forthcoming and help

The part about Nguyen was frustrating. It's hard to imagine a more honest hypocrisy than explicitly saying, on the record, that one will be forthcoming and helpful towards the marginalized, and ending up being just as dismissive and unengaged as everybody else.

neonate 6y ago
I felt similarly. There are a lot of things one could do to help, short of funding. Even taking the time to write a longer and more personal email would not be nothing. On the other hand, the article says she did schedule a meeting with the author ("albeit a month out"). It doesn't say what happened at the meeting.
jchonphoenix 6y ago
I get the sentiment, but Ha was more helpful than she realized. I've been in this game from both sides the table. From this post, it's pretty clear she does lack basic knowledge. She needs to understand how VCs are evaluating her business, what metrics and data she needs to show, and what types of businesses are even a match for the VC model. Ha's post covers much of that. And having been in VC, the fact Ha even spent time giving advice is more than 90% of cold reachouts to VC can expect with a Google resume or not. VCs write these 101 posts because they want founders to know when it's time to come to them and how to present the info. That's very much what she makes it seem she needed.
anotherfounder 6y ago
FWIW, we had the same experience with the other Spero VC: Shripriya Mahesh. She has a lot of blogposts around investing in startups that level the playing field, and not once did that topic come up in our conversations. And she isn't the only investor. A general rule of thumb we learnt: more an investor talks about a topic, less likely is that they care. There is a hidden asterisk: *as long as you are ex-FAANG doing a SAAS startup, in a competitive round. SWM? Hidden bonus bingo!

3 ms·

The part about Nguyen was frustrating. It's hard to imagine a more honest hypocrisy than explicitly saying, on the record, that one will be forthcoming and help

by Kednicma 6y ago

neonate 6y ago
I felt similarly. There are a lot of things one could do to help, short of funding. Even taking the time to write a longer and more personal email would not be nothing. On the other hand, the article says she did schedule a meeting with the author ("albeit a month out"). It doesn't say what happened at the meeting.
jchonphoenix 6y ago
I get the sentiment, but Ha was more helpful than she realized. I've been in this game from both sides the table. From this post, it's pretty clear she does lack basic knowledge. She needs to understand how VCs are evaluating her business, what metrics and data she needs to show, and what types of businesses are even a match for the VC model. Ha's post covers much of that. And having been in VC, the fact Ha even spent time giving advice is more than 90% of cold reachouts to VC can expect with a Google resume or not. VCs write these 101 posts because they want founders to know when it's time to come to them and how to present the info. That's very much what she makes it seem she needed.
anotherfounder 6y ago
FWIW, we had the same experience with the other Spero VC: Shripriya Mahesh. She has a lot of blogposts around investing in startups that level the playing field, and not once did that topic come up in our conversations. And she isn't the only investor. A general rule of thumb we learnt: more an investor talks about a topic, less likely is that they care. There is a hidden asterisk: *as long as you are ex-FAANG doing a SAAS startup, in a competitive round. SWM? Hidden bonus bingo!