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VC isn't VC anymore

anildash.com

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Re: VC isn't VC anymore

#21

Post by checker »

cbg0 wrote: post #12
RicoElectrico wrote: post #5

Likewise, stock market IPOs are a parody now - not means of getting financing, but dumping the paper on the retail after for the insiders and VCs to realize their gains.

Aren't all the insiders restricted from dumping their shares for a set number of months?

The lockup period is still in effect (for now) but reductions to index inclusion rules expose the stock to passive vehicles like ETFs that are obligated to have a specific allocation on the stock. So now there is an essentially guaranteed demand established by the time the lockup period expires. NASDAQ allows mega-cap companies into the NASDAQ-100 after 15 days which is much shorter than the lockup period for 80% of the SpaceX shares.

15 days - Pump: get into indexes -> ETFs obligated to buy shares

After - Dump: insiders cash out benefiting from the price premium of demand for shares from ETFs

Re: VC isn't VC anymore

#22

Post by 4lx87 »

bko wrote: post #18

[flagged]

"politics the author doesn't agree with" = racism, hatred, calls for ethnic cleansing, dismantling of the democratic government, open support for fascism... all being coordinated and advanced by a cabal of extremely wealthy VCs. Yeah those politics.

Re: VC isn't VC anymore

#23

Post by 52ahf »

Anil Dash writes what people want to hear (except for boring medical analogies).

He writes against Big-AI, but supports AI (small?) and copyright theft at the EFF, where he is a board member.

I'm getting tolerated opposition vibes here.

Re: VC isn't VC anymore

#24

Post by hirako2000 »

> But a cancer grows from a cell that a body needs in small, healthy amounts, and that turns deadly when it grows without limit until it harms, or even kills, its host

I thought a cancer grew from a defective cell that is able to divide and grow to over take the healthy ones.

Re: VC isn't VC anymore

#25

Post by bix6 »

I’m a VC and agree with much of this. The mega firms have totally warped VC and the desire for massive cash appreciation has led to a host of bad characters getting involved. I still love working with early stage companies but it is hard to cut your own lane when these mega groups control so many aspects of the stack and have such outsized capital and political influence. There are so many issues destroying early stage VC right now. We need major policy change / guardrails but that won’t happen.

Re: VC isn't VC anymore

#26

Post by shimman »

saasisdead wrote: post #13

VC is basically just plowing capital into people that went to prestigious schools or maybe were at a top company. They collect fees and every once in a while a company hits. Any analysis on the asset class is moot. Most of the VC media is aimed at hiding the fact that its a lottery machine for a pre selected group

You should add that they use pension funds to do this too. Easy to make stupid bets when it's not your money.

Re: VC isn't VC anymore

#27

Post by cjkaminski »

skybrian wrote: post #17

I’m skeptical of the implicit claim that they’re all the same. It seems rather difficult to prove?

There is an explicit claim in the essay that says they aren't all the same.

Third bullet point says "a handful of venture capital firms have become 'do everything' funds that combine private equity with their existing VC businesses".

Re: VC isn't VC anymore

#28

Post by aliasxneo »

I've been in an interesting spot the last few months. I've pitched probably two dozen or so VCs and, and while almost every case showed interest, it was quickly followed by "rules" and "desires" that were antithetical to the product.

The product I am building is a decentralized trust system. The word "trust" is literally in the name. It requires very specific decisions and a very specific organizational and legal structure to be successful. Why? Because anything else doesn't breed trust.

But that's actually the problem. The VCs don't like those things, because in almost every case it relinquishes their control/power. Or, they ask us to do something either questionably or blatantly unethical in order to sweeten the pot. I was one of those founders "unaware of the Cancer Capital situation." After six months of pitching, it's become extremely obvious to me that the current VC system is incapable of funding anything ethical or long-term.

I don't know what the right answer is from here. Our current attempt is founding a syndicate of like-minded individuals to bootstrap a pre-seed. It seems like the only possibility where you might be able to maintain an ethical vision without fighting a cancerous overlord. We'll see how it goes.

Re: VC isn't VC anymore

#29

Post by 4d4m »

saasisdead wrote: post #13

VC is basically just plowing capital into people that went to prestigious schools or maybe were at a top company. They collect fees and every once in a while a company hits. Any analysis on the asset class is moot. Most of the VC media is aimed at hiding the fact that its a lottery machine for a pre selected group

I think the letter V should be removed from VC to better reflect your point that these are barely ventures - they're more like a rigged casino spin for those that don't have the talent to do the building themselves.

Re: VC isn't VC anymore

#30

Post by 4lx87 »

saasisdead wrote: post #13

VC is basically just plowing capital into people that went to prestigious schools or maybe were at a top company. They collect fees and every once in a while a company hits. Any analysis on the asset class is moot. Most of the VC media is aimed at hiding the fact that its a lottery machine for a pre selected group

VC is also exercising incredible power over media and politics. That's part of the article's point: VC isn't just about VC anymore.
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