Totally agree that TC will not 'make or break' your company. The beauty of being a startup is that you are judged primarily on your product. It is as pure a mer

Totally agree that TC will not 'make or break' your company. The beauty of being a startup is that you are judged primarily on your product. It is as pure a meritocracy as you will find. This is why I love it. However, TC has become very powerful. Even Googles General Counsel speaks directly to them (http://techcrunch.com/2011/07/25/google-patent-fight http://techcrunch.com/2011/07/25/google-patent-fight). Yes the influence is not a binary 'pass' or 'fail', but it is significant enough for the CrunchFund to benefit from their writing.