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Kudos to her for landing investors for this idea, but her plan was actually to optimize her pitch for potential investors, and given enough pitches she eventual

Kudos to her for landing investors for this idea, but her plan was actually to optimize her pitch for potential investors, and given enough pitches she eventually found a few who pulled the trigger. To me, this is not really a sign of a strong idea for a company, but rather a sign of a good saleswoman. I would expect companies with much better, stronger concepts to land funding much faster. Also, I think most people vastly overestimate the level of competence of VCs and especially the degree of due diligence that they do. They are just as easily wooed by great presentations and the typical sales tricks. Cases in point: WeWork, Theranos, etc.

DistressedDrone 5y ago
> Also, I think most people vastly overestimate the level of competence of VCs and especially the degree of due diligence that they do. They are just as easily wooed by great presentations and the typical sales tricks. Cases in point: WeWork, Theranos, etc. Remember when more than one millionaire funded Juicero? I remember.
- dougSF70 5y ago
  It seems that VCs are either following the herd or buying the vision. The latter is a safe risk to take because the timescales of some projects are 10+ years which means the VC can delay the inevitable (firm goes to zero) with a slim chance that the returns will be huge. Personally I have tried and failed to raise VC money, as a result I have some sour grapes when I see firms raise $20mn+ for moon shot ideas that make no sense to me. Having said that I would rather be beholden to my firm's customers, customers who pay for an unsubsidized product that meets a market need, today.
risyachka 5y ago
>> a sign of a good saleswoman This is one of the most important qualities you need if you are building a company.
throwaway77112 5y ago
If so a 'saleswoman' who "was previously a Ph.D. candidate at Oxford in a relevant field & have a B.Sc. in neuroscience from UT Austin" though. Also when it comes to VCs, you gotta sell it. Or perish. And if you are gonna sell it, you better have some strategies. This is independent of how good your idea is. Maybe there will be an utopia where VCs consider things only on merit, but that is not the general reality right now.
Grustaf 5y ago
Running a company, especially a startup, is 80% about good salesmanship.

DistressedDrone 5y ago

> Also, I think most people vastly overestimate the level of competence of VCs and especially the degree of due diligence that they do. They are just as easily wooed by great presentations and the typical sales tricks. Cases in point: WeWork, Theranos, etc. Remember when more than one millionaire funded Juicero? I remember.

dougSF70 5y ago
It seems that VCs are either following the herd or buying the vision. The latter is a safe risk to take because the timescales of some projects are 10+ years which means the VC can delay the inevitable (firm goes to zero) with a slim chance that the returns will be huge. Personally I have tried and failed to raise VC money, as a result I have some sour grapes when I see firms raise $20mn+ for moon shot ideas that make no sense to me. Having said that I would rather be beholden to my firm's customers, customers who pay for an unsubsidized product that meets a market need, today.

risyachka 5y ago

>> a sign of a good saleswoman This is one of the most important qualities you need if you are building a company.

throwaway77112 5y ago

If so a 'saleswoman' who "was previously a Ph.D. candidate at Oxford in a relevant field & have a B.Sc. in neuroscience from UT Austin" though. Also when it comes to VCs, you gotta sell it. Or perish. And if you are gonna sell it, you better have some strategies. This is independent of how good your idea is. Maybe there will be an utopia where VCs consider things only on merit, but that is not the general reality right now.

Grustaf 5y ago

Running a company, especially a startup, is 80% about good salesmanship.