Earlier quoted context omitted.
Boston = Grad school for adults. ;-) Also, if Silicon Valley were middle school for adults, there'd be more girls here.
Austin = Smoking behind the bleachers for adults?
All right, all right, all right.
Ron Conway Drops A Nuclear Bomb On The Super Angels
161–170 of 218 posts
Re: Ron Conway Drops A Nuclear Bomb On The Super Angels
#162As others said, I don't think I've ever see entrepreneur spelled entrepenuer quite that many times before. If the nuclear bomb was mispelling entrepreneur, it has been dropped.
Though, I appreciate Ron's willingness to speak out against the collusion of these investors to wreak havoc on their competition.
Re: Ron Conway Drops A Nuclear Bomb On The Super Angels
#163I don't think there's anything suspect about Ron Conway's misspelling of 'entrepreneur'. He probably just banged out the email without doing a spell-check. Let's remember it was a private email. Had he intended to have it published he probably would have taken more care. I can't speak for Ron, of course, but I will say that I frequently write the word "entrepreneur" (i.e. in blog posts, emails, etc). I'm not sure why - maybe it's the way I touch-type - but I often miss the second 'r'. I typically don't even notice until I do a spell-check. All in all, I think it was just an innocent mistake.
Re: Ron Conway Drops A Nuclear Bomb On The Super Angels
#164I find it hard to tell if this is a heartfelt attempt to "tell it like it is", or masterful damage control to pull his buddy's ass out of the fire.
PG vouches for him (which counts for a lot) so maybe it's completely legit and heartfelt.
If so, it does indicate a certain lapse of judgment on the author's part. Why on Earth would he think something this inflammatory would stay secret? It must be obvious to everyone involved that they have serious operational-security issues. There's no way something like this would be kept private when the members of the group couldn't even keep the existence and location of their meeting a secret from a notoriously trigger-happy (and widely read) blogger.
If it isn't heartfelt, then it walks through the checklist of everything you should do for damage control when you or someone in your circle faces an accusation of collusion / conspiracy:
- Loudly and vehemently disagree with the "bad group"'s philosophy;
- Explain the presence of the buddy in "bad group" in terms of how he didn't want to be involved but was sucked in and unable to escape. (Don't wave this type away as "bad judgment" since it implies guilt);
- Completely disavow the "bad" group;
- Keep focus on how you only care about "good group";
- Repeatedly assert that you always look out for "good group" and you would never allow anything bad to happen to "good group"
(Incidentally, the spelling errors were a particularly nice touch.)
Re: Ron Conway Drops A Nuclear Bomb On The Super Angels
#165McClure dug himself into a hole with his first response. He didn't think two moves ahead. In poker parlance what McClure did was to bet the turn on a semi-bluff not anticipating an all-in shove from his opponent on the river. McClure's post - through both its style and its content, left an opening for Conway to come out with this email. Dave is stuck now, and his only response from here is to come clean in some way a…
Which kinda sucks, since re-reading his post, it seems like he was invited there. To me, it seems probable that he wasn't the ring leader(s), but merely the one that's talking the loudest. Doesn't excuse the guy, but he's getting the spotlight shone on him while the others sneak off into the night unnoticed.
Re: Ron Conway Drops A Nuclear Bomb On The Super Angels
#166Earlier quoted context omitted.
It makes him standout from the crowd which is his goal IMO...
...It makes him look childish, impatient, immature, and less credible. If you're a professional, act like one. You wouldn't turn an essay in looking like that in junior high or high school, so why is it acceptable for him?
There's many things that make a man. His dress, his words, his actions, and these are all suppose to be a reflection of his character and integrity. Be careful which one you pick to judge a man.
I'm not defending Dave's actions at this meeting, merely his writing style. I'm glad the Valley has room for the likes of Dave's writing style. The day the Valley values professionalism over actual value give is the day I leave, since I can go to Wall Street for that. Suits and the Whole Nine Yards.
The second time I'll invoke Tara: "The less confident you are, the more serious you have to act." - Tara Ploughman
Re: Ron Conway Drops A Nuclear Bomb On The Super Angels
#167> Please keep this confidential even though I know that will be hard since two of you let your egos take over and show Arrington how important you are by telling him you were headed to a “secret” angel gathering.
So true.
Re: Ron Conway Drops A Nuclear Bomb On The Super Angels
#168That's pretty linkbaity. Dropping a "nuclear bomb" would be something like, "I have a recording from the Bin 38 meeting that proves you were colluding. The FTC will start examining it at 9am sharp tomorrow morning." Sure, it's unusual for someone to so strongly come out and call people out, especially people that he may want to invest alongside someday, but "nuclear bomb" is a serious stretch.
Right. He's used up his "nuclear bomb" title for the year. What happens when something truly scandalous happens? I suppose he could go up to hydrogen bomb..
"Fully operational battle station"?
Re: Ron Conway Drops A Nuclear Bomb On The Super Angels
#169As entrepreneurs, we need both Conway and the Super Angels. It's time for everyone to get over these unfortunate meetings and forgive the participants. Enough is enough.
Did they do something wrong? Hell yes. But it's been exposed, examined, and discussed. Publicly stoning a group of angels represents the worst kind of mob behavior and reflects poorly on entrepreneurs as an investment class. Let's not forget that wealthy individuals have many different options for investing their money that historically have higher rates of return (i.e. make more money) than investments in startup companies. Many angels invest in startups because it's more fun than profitable. Let's not change that dynamic in spite of ourselves.
At the end of the day, we want angel investing to be the biggest game possible. It's a surplus of angel money that has put entrepreneurs in the driver's seat and made term sheets extremely favorable to founders. Fewer angels in the mix and the scenario can change quickly.
It's time to prove that we're better than a small group of angels who engaged in such unfortunate behavior. It's time to forgive and move on.
Re: Ron Conway Drops A Nuclear Bomb On The Super Angels
#170it's not a memo, it's a mission statement.