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VC isn't VC anymore

anildash.com

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Re: VC isn't VC anymore

#91

Post by quaintdev »

bix6 wrote: 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…

Sometimes I wonder if people will one day wake up and just ditch all the tech. That's seems to be the only way to be out of this mess.

Re: VC isn't VC anymore

#92

Post by palata »

sershe wrote: post #85
palata wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So fundamentally, "everyone else" is scammed. Unless the class A scammers get so, so rich that everyone else gets rich as well. In which case it's still a scam, but the "everyone else" are happy anyway.

Why is that a scam? Nobody ever promises you any specific valuation or fraction of the company. When I joined a company relatively late but well before IPO, some funny number of shares at 12 cents or whatever each did not even enter my calculation any more than "oh and they also give me a free lottery ticket". In my case depending on when one sold after IPO they would have been in the range centered around about comp…

> Nobody ever promises you any specific valuation or fraction of the company

Would you mind asking before saying what I have been promised?

Also it feels like you have never been in a startup. The whole language of growth everywhere, the "billion-dollar startup", the "becoming a unicorn", this is all suggesting that "you're part of it and it matters to you if it becomes a unicorn". But it doesn't, really. Because you get diluted.

Re: VC isn't VC anymore

#94

Post by shimman »

aliasxneo wrote: post #28

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…

Are you able to say the product you're working on? It sounds really interesting.

Re: VC isn't VC anymore

#95

Post by bix6 »

quaintdev wrote: post #91
bix6 wrote: 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…

Sometimes I wonder if people will one day wake up and just ditch all the tech. That's seems to be the only way to be out of this mess.

yes but there is helpful tech! We’re just over focused on SaaS and now AI (new SaaS).

I do find myself enjoying my computer / phone less these days though.

Re: VC isn't VC anymore

#96

Post by wseqyrku »

Speaking of accountability, if you look around and see the tech enshitified you have no one else to blame but the biggest investors in the vicinity. Like it or not they are building your future and more often than not it's just a byproduct of whatever the hell they think they're doing, not a deliberate milestone, which makes it even worse.

Re: VC isn't VC anymore

#97

Post by ciefa »

quaintdev wrote: post #91
bix6 wrote: 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…

Sometimes I wonder if people will one day wake up and just ditch all the tech. That's seems to be the only way to be out of this mess.

Hard disagree. Societal change and more inventions are needed, not a degrowth attitude.

Re: VC isn't VC anymore

#98

Post by christkv »

The root of the problem I think was caused by allowing institutional funds to invest money in VC firms. You combine that with the majority of the value being generated before they go public and you have a stock market which no longer works as a way to raise money for the company but as a way for VC´s to exit their positions and offloading companies on the public and funds.

Re: VC isn't VC anymore

#99

Post by Daishiman »

jansport123 wrote: post #72
reasonableklout wrote: post #69

Wow, TIL a16z hired the NYC subway guy as a partner purely as a political stunt. This on top of the $115M in the midterms, them no longer legally being a VC firm, and recent discussion on dark patterns in their portfolio [1]. I'm inclined to agree with the thesis of the article especially with regards to this firm. Looking forward to the other articles in the series. [1]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49416055

a16z has always struck me as the shadiest vc - i associate them with NFT's, crypto and god knows what. They personify the amorality of chasing money over anything (Maybe indicative of SV culture these days in general).

I don't think anything that could even be mentioned as VC despises its own clients as much as a16z. Trying to sell investors on NFTs in 2026 should be criminal.

Re: VC isn't VC anymore

#100

Post by bix6 »

anildash wrote: post #86
bix6 wrote: 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…

I think “regular” VCs are one of the cohorts of people I feel worst for! I have a lot of friends who got into the business wanting to help entrepreneurs, and now they’re stuck on a cap table with folks who they’d never want to do business with. It’s not any different than the founders or employees who don’t want to be saddled with these guys, either. The hard part is figuring out how to change these structures so tha…

Great write up anil!

Agreed it’s so difficult. And every time I think we have things all figured out, someone flips the table!

I’ve seen some ruthless terms for angels too. My buddy took an uncapped SAFE to get in a deal while the deal runners gave themselves a cap.

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