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What It's Really Like To Pitch Lerer Ventures

32 points by cienrak 15y ago

cienrak 15y ago
Funny footage of PG speaking at YC NYC in this video.
chhhrislake 15y ago
love the inside scoop!
Redoubtable 15y ago
Curious to see the pitches! And not just because my start up is one of them.
debasishbera 15y ago
I was so comfortable and felt connected with both of them and their suggestions were very very useful. What a great effort from betabeat to support NYC startups.
garreng 15y ago
Awesome opportunity--Thx BetaBeat and LV. And trust me, the butterflies are real. ha
phani_nivarthi 15y ago
It was an awesome experience. They were cool and made us feel very comfortable. Thanks betabeat and LV. Our confidence has taken a boost...It is very inspiring to see all the other pitches. I hope this is just the start!!
NY_Entrepreneur 15y ago
Their Web site has no e-mail address for contacting them. The e-mail address they used to publicize died. When calling for an e-mail address, their phone recorder is full of static. If leave a message asking for an e-mail address, they don't respond. Their backgrounds are not very technical. They seem to believe that they can make good money with 'spray and pray' with simple projects with routine software for simple purposes for Web sites close to old media. Maybe.
- kfalter 15y ago
  I tried to get their email addresses as well, but never found it... Hmm. I'll mention this to them. I know a couple of them have personal blogs with personal email addresses -- not necessarily connected to the firm.
- inmygarage 15y ago
  Even if they did have a public email address [pitch@venturefund.com] or something like that, chances are slim that you would get a reply from a cold email/deck. This isn't specific to LV but true of most, if not all, venture funds. Ask a random VC what percentage of their investments in 2010 came from a cold email/deck and I bet it would be less than 10%. That is why incubators/accelerators - YC, etc. - have gained such incredible traction over the past few years. The model encourages applicants with no connection to the fund.
  - NY_Entrepreneur 15y ago
    VCs have some VERY serious problems: Mark Suster has some graphs that show that on average over the past 10 years VC returns SUCK. Thus, a lot of venture partners won't be able to raise a new fund. Thus, a lot of venture partners will have to leave venture capital. And one of Suster's graphs shows just this: The 'unemployment' rate of VCs over the past 10 years has been, just from memory, something over 50%. For the VCs who still have jobs, their chances are no better. My broad conclusion is that the VCs are without any doubt the biggest idiots in the room. They are nothing like the students I respected in mathematics and physics or in computing. One could count on two hands all the venture partners with significant technical backgrounds (in information technology). There is hardly a single VC in the country I would hire as COO, Chief Scientist, CTO, Chief Software Architect, software manager, software developer, server farm administrator, network administrator, new product designer, help desk staffer, etc. Some VCs respond to 'cold, over the transom' e-mail messages, and some do not. The VCs have a HUGE problem: They very much DO need 'home run hits' but have essentially nothing for good criteria for selecting such. Indeed, net, their view appears to be to go for 'base hits' with some 'face validity' according to some currently popular 'herd criteria', draw their 2%, and just let 'another Google' happen when and if it does. If they get only 10% of their 'hits' from 'cold, over the transom' e-mail, then the reason might be not that the e-mail contacts are unpromising but just that the VCs have trouble (1) handling their e-mail (most do) and (2) actually evaluating a project based on just text in an e-mail message (most do). In Silicon Valley the VCs have a special approach: They spend so much time in 'gossip' that they all learn about the same 'hot deals' at the same time, just from gossip. Alas, the gossip is a very poor way to select home runs. Here's part of the problem in selecting 'home runs': Look at the home runs, Apple, Twitter, GroupOn, Facebook, Google, Yahoo, Dell, Oracle, HP, Sun, Microsoft, Intel, etc. and now, your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to find the 'pattern' in that list. The list is short, and the list covers so many decades that the circumstances have changed a LOT over the decades. So, each decade, before the circumstances have changed, really have only one to a few such home runs. So, simplistic patterns don't work. But there is something that does work. It has a GREAT batting average, FAR better than the VCs. It's worked GREAT for 70 years now. It still works. It gave us little things like the Internet, GPS, Silicon Valley, radar, atomic power, microwave ovens, microslectronics, and much more. Right: What actually works is the project evaluation process of the US DoD. And that is done nearly ALL on paper, with essentially always some quite technical material. That process, nearly all on paper, is how I evaluated and executed projects in some of the world's best industrial research, some leading edge projects in business, various projects for the US DoD, my Ph.D. dissertation in engineering, and more. It WORKS. In comparison, the VCs are blind men throwing darts in the dark. Some of the best VCs actually do realize that their 'networks' do not "overlap" with those of the most promising entrepreneurs. In particular, the 'network' of Lerer Ventures looks like it totally sucks for promising successes. Indeed, the very most promising sources of good deals for Lerer Ventures would be from 'cold, over the transom' contacts from people it does NOT know. If Lerer Ventures knows and likes an entrepreneur and immediately likes their project, then they should NOT invest! That is, unless they want to start another Huffington Post!
schlaf 15y ago
Hey NY_Entrepreneur -- Steve Schlafman here from Lerer Ventures. First and foremost, we appreciate your thoughts and I'm sorry that you had a hard time getting in touch with us. We receive dozens of business plans each week though our website and I personally review each one so I apologize if you've experienced issues. I can assure you this is the first time we've received this feedback so we'll have to work hard to ensure another entrepreneur doesn't experience the same pain point. As for getting in touch with Lerer Ventures in the future, our website is certainly an option as is our twitter account. Additionally, we're all active on the social net, some of us have blogs and I have an about.me page which people use to contact me / us all the time. I'm also contacted by entrepreneurs via Facebook and LinkedIn daily so those are also channels I check regularly. That said, good luck in your future endeavors and hope you're successful. -Steve Steve Schlafman Prinicpal @ Lerer Ventures @schlaf

32 points by cienrak 15y ago

cienrak 15y ago

Funny footage of PG speaking at YC NYC in this video.

chhhrislake 15y ago

love the inside scoop!

Redoubtable 15y ago

Curious to see the pitches! And not just because my start up is one of them.

debasishbera 15y ago

I was so comfortable and felt connected with both of them and their suggestions were very very useful. What a great effort from betabeat to support NYC startups.

garreng 15y ago

Awesome opportunity--Thx BetaBeat and LV. And trust me, the butterflies are real. ha

phani_nivarthi 15y ago

It was an awesome experience. They were cool and made us feel very comfortable. Thanks betabeat and LV. Our confidence has taken a boost...It is very inspiring to see all the other pitches. I hope this is just the start!!

NY_Entrepreneur 15y ago

Their Web site has no e-mail address for contacting them. The e-mail address they used to publicize died. When calling for an e-mail address, their phone recorder is full of static. If leave a message asking for an e-mail address, they don't respond. Their backgrounds are not very technical. They seem to believe that they can make good money with 'spray and pray' with simple projects with routine software for simple purposes for Web sites close to old media. Maybe.

kfalter 15y ago
I tried to get their email addresses as well, but never found it... Hmm. I'll mention this to them. I know a couple of them have personal blogs with personal email addresses -- not necessarily connected to the firm.
inmygarage 15y ago
Even if they did have a public email address [pitch@venturefund.com] or something like that, chances are slim that you would get a reply from a cold email/deck. This isn't specific to LV but true of most, if not all, venture funds. Ask a random VC what percentage of their investments in 2010 came from a cold email/deck and I bet it would be less than 10%. That is why incubators/accelerators - YC, etc. - have gained such incredible traction over the past few years. The model encourages applicants with no connection to the fund.
- NY_Entrepreneur 15y ago
  VCs have some VERY serious problems: Mark Suster has some graphs that show that on average over the past 10 years VC returns SUCK. Thus, a lot of venture partners won't be able to raise a new fund. Thus, a lot of venture partners will have to leave venture capital. And one of Suster's graphs shows just this: The 'unemployment' rate of VCs over the past 10 years has been, just from memory, something over 50%. For the VCs who still have jobs, their chances are no better. My broad conclusion is that the VCs are without any doubt the biggest idiots in the room. They are nothing like the students I respected in mathematics and physics or in computing. One could count on two hands all the venture partners with significant technical backgrounds (in information technology). There is hardly a single VC in the country I would hire as COO, Chief Scientist, CTO, Chief Software Architect, software manager, software developer, server farm administrator, network administrator, new product designer, help desk staffer, etc. Some VCs respond to 'cold, over the transom' e-mail messages, and some do not. The VCs have a HUGE problem: They very much DO need 'home run hits' but have essentially nothing for good criteria for selecting such. Indeed, net, their view appears to be to go for 'base hits' with some 'face validity' according to some currently popular 'herd criteria', draw their 2%, and just let 'another Google' happen when and if it does. If they get only 10% of their 'hits' from 'cold, over the transom' e-mail, then the reason might be not that the e-mail contacts are unpromising but just that the VCs have trouble (1) handling their e-mail (most do) and (2) actually evaluating a project based on just text in an e-mail message (most do). In Silicon Valley the VCs have a special approach: They spend so much time in 'gossip' that they all learn about the same 'hot deals' at the same time, just from gossip. Alas, the gossip is a very poor way to select home runs. Here's part of the problem in selecting 'home runs': Look at the home runs, Apple, Twitter, GroupOn, Facebook, Google, Yahoo, Dell, Oracle, HP, Sun, Microsoft, Intel, etc. and now, your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to find the 'pattern' in that list. The list is short, and the list covers so many decades that the circumstances have changed a LOT over the decades. So, each decade, before the circumstances have changed, really have only one to a few such home runs. So, simplistic patterns don't work. But there is something that does work. It has a GREAT batting average, FAR better than the VCs. It's worked GREAT for 70 years now. It still works. It gave us little things like the Internet, GPS, Silicon Valley, radar, atomic power, microwave ovens, microslectronics, and much more. Right: What actually works is the project evaluation process of the US DoD. And that is done nearly ALL on paper, with essentially always some quite technical material. That process, nearly all on paper, is how I evaluated and executed projects in some of the world's best industrial research, some leading edge projects in business, various projects for the US DoD, my Ph.D. dissertation in engineering, and more. It WORKS. In comparison, the VCs are blind men throwing darts in the dark. Some of the best VCs actually do realize that their 'networks' do not "overlap" with those of the most promising entrepreneurs. In particular, the 'network' of Lerer Ventures looks like it totally sucks for promising successes. Indeed, the very most promising sources of good deals for Lerer Ventures would be from 'cold, over the transom' contacts from people it does NOT know. If Lerer Ventures knows and likes an entrepreneur and immediately likes their project, then they should NOT invest! That is, unless they want to start another Huffington Post!

schlaf 15y ago

Hey NY_Entrepreneur -- Steve Schlafman here from Lerer Ventures. First and foremost, we appreciate your thoughts and I'm sorry that you had a hard time getting in touch with us. We receive dozens of business plans each week though our website and I personally review each one so I apologize if you've experienced issues. I can assure you this is the first time we've received this feedback so we'll have to work hard to ensure another entrepreneur doesn't experience the same pain point. As for getting in touch with Lerer Ventures in the future, our website is certainly an option as is our twitter account. Additionally, we're all active on the social net, some of us have blogs and I have an about.me page which people use to contact me / us all the time. I'm also contacted by entrepreneurs via Facebook and LinkedIn daily so those are also channels I check regularly. That said, good luck in your future endeavors and hope you're successful. -Steve Steve Schlafman Prinicpal @ Lerer Ventures @schlaf