61–70 of 170 posts
> You’re not talking to someone who woke up a loser. That loser attitude, that loser premise makes no sense to me.
These fuckers are grotesque caricatures in human skin.
After reading some of these stories, I don't see how you can't come away thinking that psychopathy is a trait that goes hand in hand with being a successful VC. The story about Vinod Khosla speaks for itself, but after reading #2 I clicked on Marc Andreesen's twitter profile, which currently says this: > You’re not talking to someone who woke up a loser. That loser attitude, that loser premise makes no sense to me. T…
I hear story #1 periodically, but almost never see a quote. How is this stuff said specifically? It always seems like hearsay. I'm sure it's authentic, but I'd love to hear the details on how that stuff is actually said in conversation.
All I ever hear are horror stories. Can someone tell me a good story about VC that isn't Facebook or something?
As with all things, the horror stories just get the most attention. People love to rage. There are plenty of boring (good, even!) VCs out there. They just work more quietly, professionally. I'll share a story, but its about a close friend and not me so I won't name any explicit actors and I'm going to round out the numbers. You either trust me or you don't, but this is a very direct relationship I have to both the fo…
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And as someone who briefly had to interact with Akamai, the deficiencies in their product are not even close to subtle.
Sounds like how WeWork ate Regus's lunch even while being made of crazy
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If one partner is the core of the company, and the others the VC thinks are useless ( I am not saying in this case they were...just that the VC might have that perception) what should the VC do? After all its just business decisions like Cloudflare recent layoffs no? https://blog.cloudflare.com/building-for-the-future/
If they truly are useless that's one thing, but the ability to "impress" some asshole in a 30 minute pitch has little to do with running a successful tech company. With what authority are VCs claiming to be capable of being an accurate judge of talent or character in less than an hour? Sounds like said VC in your example is doing insufficient due diligence and just investing based on vibes.
I hear story #1 periodically, but almost never see a quote. How is this stuff said specifically? It always seems like hearsay. I'm sure it's authentic, but I'd love to hear the details on how that stuff is actually said in conversation.
The fact that you hear this often (also not only from the victims of this) should signal that, even without quotes, there is likely some truth to it.
#3 is insane, if for no other reason than the VC is signaling that he’s likely going to try and do the same thing to you some day… even if you were totally willing to screw over your team, why would you ever get involved with that VC given you’ll then have to watch your back until the end of time?
My pet theory is that it is more nurture than nature. These (VC) veterans have seen thousands of startups come and go, and become so desensitized to the ruthlessness. Of course to people like the author, it seems borderline sociopathic to casually suggest such levels of betrayal. It is like trying to get into the most exclusive nightclubs, and when you're finally in the front, the bouncer will look at the group and s…
I get the business as usual analogy but the specifics of the interaction are different. You just showing up to your club with your friends is different than having equity in a company you cofounded.
I could write a book with the horror stories I have of VC and LP behavior, and some of the wild stuff I’ve either been asked to do, verified others were asked to do or say it’s just totally unhinged. I don’t know if Angel investing groups are really still around like they were in there 2010s but the variance in the types of insanity and weirdness for those groups is really unmatched.
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Because if you get involved with most VCs, you will then have to watch your back until the end of time. None of those "worst experiences" seem all that unusual to me (though nobody will say #1 out loud anymore until after they've invested), and #3 is completely in character for Vinod.
Yeah, this is par for the course with VC. You should never believe your VC (even post funding) is your friend. They can be a great business partner and resource but they're never your friend under that dynamic