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I thought the post was half-over when I realized I was at the end. I was expecting a lesson based on evidence, but it was a bunch of personal background and the

I thought the post was half-over when I realized I was at the end. I was expecting a lesson based on evidence, but it was a bunch of personal background and then a hypothesis without any data to back it up. EDIT: interesting to see this is now flagged. I wouldn't have flagged it, but I was surprised to see how quickly it was being upvoted. It's not offensive or anything — just no there there.

saagarjha 2y ago
I think it ends rather abruptly because what I expected is their experience of what happened with the offer they got.
dilyevsky 2y ago
It’s a meta commentary on unfulfilled promises
FreakLegion 2y ago
I don't think it should be flagged either, but it's wrong in a lot of ways. Some of those ways are boring, e.g. paying investor board members a salary isn't really a thing. Less boring observations: Cybersecurity is somewhat unique in that historically most of the big VCs haven't paid much attention to it, relative to other things. Greylock, specifically Asheem Chandna and more recently Saam Motamedi, is the main exception that comes to mind. (This broad lack of interest is changing given the overall growth of the industry and the success of companies like Palo Alto Networks and CrowdStrike, though.) Smaller VCs have spent a lot more time in the space, both because they haven't had to compete with the big firms and because cybersecurity has lower variance than other industries. The companies generate massive returns a lot less often, but also rarely fail, which makes them attractive to angels, second- and third-tier firms, and specialists. It's an interesting dynamic, but I'd say the most problematic aspect of cybersecurity investing today is the existence of groups like SVCI (https://www.svci.io https://www.svci.io) and CyberStarts (https://cyberstarts.com https://cyberstarts.com). SVCI's investors are tech CISOs, i.e. potential buyers. It's pay-to-play with extra steps. CyberStarts and a few other Israeli VCs are even sketchier, flying CISOs around the world on lavish vacations billed as industry events where they socialize with the portfolio companies. I know a handful of CISOs who've walked into new gigs only to discover a dozen CyberStarts portco products laying around, basically unused, that they then had to rip out when the contracts were up. It's all deeply unethical.

saagarjha 2y ago

I think it ends rather abruptly because what I expected is their experience of what happened with the offer they got.

dilyevsky 2y ago

It’s a meta commentary on unfulfilled promises

FreakLegion 2y ago

I don't think it should be flagged either, but it's wrong in a lot of ways. Some of those ways are boring, e.g. paying investor board members a salary isn't really a thing. Less boring observations: Cybersecurity is somewhat unique in that historically most of the big VCs haven't paid much attention to it, relative to other things. Greylock, specifically Asheem Chandna and more recently Saam Motamedi, is the main exception that comes to mind. (This broad lack of interest is changing given the overall growth of the industry and the success of companies like Palo Alto Networks and CrowdStrike, though.) Smaller VCs have spent a lot more time in the space, both because they haven't had to compete with the big firms and because cybersecurity has lower variance than other industries. The companies generate massive returns a lot less often, but also rarely fail, which makes them attractive to angels, second- and third-tier firms, and specialists. It's an interesting dynamic, but I'd say the most problematic aspect of cybersecurity investing today is the existence of groups like SVCI (https://www.svci.io https://www.svci.io) and CyberStarts (https://cyberstarts.com https://cyberstarts.com). SVCI's investors are tech CISOs, i.e. potential buyers. It's pay-to-play with extra steps. CyberStarts and a few other Israeli VCs are even sketchier, flying CISOs around the world on lavish vacations billed as industry events where they socialize with the portfolio companies. I know a handful of CISOs who've walked into new gigs only to discover a dozen CyberStarts portco products laying around, basically unused, that they then had to rip out when the contracts were up. It's all deeply unethical.