4 ms·

The lack of accountability and governance by investors is fascinating and confusing to me. If I was investing meaningful portions of my savings, I would read ev

The lack of accountability and governance by investors is fascinating and confusing to me. If I was investing meaningful portions of my savings, I would read every single document and maintain careful diligence on how the firm & executive team was performing. It also seems, from reading HN, that quality investment firms do that as well. So, I wonder if it was more of a con job setup where the investors were played for marks...

lotsofpulp 6y ago
Maybe the investors themselves knew it was a con job and were hoping to offload it onto other marks.
edmundsauto 6y ago
In many cases, it’s not their money. I also think success can breed a mindset where people trust their first impressions. Then, because they are busy, they rely even more on that gut check. Humans regularly overestimate what they know, and how well they can project people’s behavior forward.
- DLay 6y ago
  Masayoshi Son seems to be a prime example of this, from what I’ve read.
prostoalex 6y ago
Notice the lack of the brand-name investment firms, or even a prominent angel. They don't name many names, but this seems indicative of the investor profile Oomba was after > Around 20 members of the golf club invested. Several brought in family and other friends. The finance guy got his ex-wife involved. Some people didn’t have the savings necessary to be accredited investors, but Williams helped “fudge” the paperwork, as one person put it.
- pnathan 6y ago
  I did catch that... but.... I am sure that there's a whole number of investments that aren't brand-name that take place. But, then it made me wonder about the con-jobbiness of it all. Targeting unsophisticated investors, seems like.
  - icedchai 6y ago
    Sure, but if they're not accredited, they don't have much money to invest. "Accredited" is a relatively low bar for anyone thinking about putting money into a private company. He'd need a lot more than 20 of those guys to raise $35+ million.
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lotsofpulp 6y ago

Maybe the investors themselves knew it was a con job and were hoping to offload it onto other marks.

edmundsauto 6y ago

In many cases, it’s not their money. I also think success can breed a mindset where people trust their first impressions. Then, because they are busy, they rely even more on that gut check. Humans regularly overestimate what they know, and how well they can project people’s behavior forward.

DLay 6y ago
Masayoshi Son seems to be a prime example of this, from what I’ve read.

prostoalex 6y ago

Notice the lack of the brand-name investment firms, or even a prominent angel. They don't name many names, but this seems indicative of the investor profile Oomba was after > Around 20 members of the golf club invested. Several brought in family and other friends. The finance guy got his ex-wife involved. Some people didn’t have the savings necessary to be accredited investors, but Williams helped “fudge” the paperwork, as one person put it.

pnathan 6y ago
I did catch that... but.... I am sure that there's a whole number of investments that aren't brand-name that take place. But, then it made me wonder about the con-jobbiness of it all. Targeting unsophisticated investors, seems like.
- icedchai 6y ago
  Sure, but if they're not accredited, they don't have much money to invest. "Accredited" is a relatively low bar for anyone thinking about putting money into a private company. He'd need a lot more than 20 of those guys to raise $35+ million.

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