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VC isn't VC anymore

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51–60 of 227 posts

Re: VC isn't VC anymore

#51
post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s the second gilded age Hopefully this one will pass, just as the first did

The Gilded Age didn’t just “pass”. It was ended by strong unions and antitrust legislation (and enforcement). Passivity will kill us if we let the oligarchs have their way. Hope is not a plan. Appeasement will have no more success than it did in WWII.

The long arm of history bends towards progress. Not because progress happens spontaneously, but because people bend it

Re: VC isn't VC anymore

#52
post #25

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 sta…

Y'all need ethics is what ya need.

I agree. Ethics is at the forefront of everything I do both personally and professionally. I used to serve on an ethics in business council. All the investments we make are grounded in genuinely improving the world. It’s unfortunate that so much money flows to certain VC firms when people like me exist since I reckon I’m much more aligned with what the general population wants.

Re: VC isn't VC anymore

#53

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 str…

I'd be interested to hear how it goes.

Re: VC isn't VC anymore

#54
post #39

I was living in SF Bay Area when a16z started. They had good marketing and a good reputation. Their analyst posts were insightful and well received here. My perception of a16z has changed drastically. I’m ashamed just how badly that marketing worked on me in the early years.

To be fair to yourself, a16z could have changed over that time, and the marketing was honest early on.

Re: VC isn't VC anymore

#55

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 str…

I'm not saying the VC scene is great, but I mean what's in this for them?

Re: VC isn't VC anymore

#56
post #25

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 sta…

Is it possible to list the mega firms?

Re: VC isn't VC anymore

#57

> Since the Cancer Capital firms have become so powerful, the overall balance of power between founders and VCs has flipped; instead of founders having a company that VCs would try to fund, now VCs publish extremist political manifestos, and “founders” are just the people who are selected to carry out parts of those plans > The rest of the world doesn’t know: New founders and workers entering the tech industry are un…

It’s the second gilded age Hopefully this one will pass, just as the first did

The first one passed with a lot of regular people losing their homes, their jobs, and even their lives. I wish just for once we could have the wealthy elites get their comeuppance without it also screwing over everyone else.

Re: VC isn't VC anymore

#58
post #39

I was living in SF Bay Area when a16z started. They had good marketing and a good reputation. Their analyst posts were insightful and well received here. My perception of a16z has changed drastically. I’m ashamed just how badly that marketing worked on me in the early years.

To be fair to yourself, a16z could have changed over that time, and the marketing was honest early on.

I suspect this is what it is, the money got to everyone's head

not too long ago we were amazed at Apple hitting $1 trillion mkt cap and elon reaching $100 bil

now we're waiting for the first trillionaires to show up

Re: VC isn't VC anymore

#59
post #25

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 sta…

Is it possible to list the mega firms?

There’s lists out there but it’s $10B+ AUM like Andreeseen, sequoia, GC, etc.
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