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VCs are liars. And so am I.

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Re: VCs are liars. And so am I.

#11

Post by Jitle »

mindcrime wrote: post #2

Feh, just be honest with people. If they get defensive, they get defensive, so what? I'd love to hear you tell me "I just don't think you have what it takes," as that's just going to pour fuel on my fire and motivate me to work that much harder just to spite you. I love negative feedback like that... fuck all ya'll, because when I'm running a billion dollar company and rocking up to your shitty office in my Maserati…

This response perfectly demonstrates the need to lie as stated in the article. As an investor, you say "no" A LOT. I can't have the 99% of people I talk to walking away with an attitude.

I received the introduction to one of our best investments from a CEO we said no to. Do you think that CEO would have made the introduction if I had told him he doesn't have what it takes to be a founder at a VC backed startup?

Re: VCs are liars. And so am I.

#12

Post by kposehn »

mindcrime wrote: post #2

Feh, just be honest with people. If they get defensive, they get defensive, so what? I'd love to hear you tell me "I just don't think you have what it takes," as that's just going to pour fuel on my fire and motivate me to work that much harder just to spite you. I love negative feedback like that... fuck all ya'll, because when I'm running a billion dollar company and rocking up to your shitty office in my Maserati…

> rocking up to your office in my Maserati

This only works if you're in a white MC Stradale with gunmetal wheels.

;)

Re: VCs are liars. And so am I.

#13

Post by bearritto »

Markets are not efficient which is another way of saying that information asymmetry exists.Successful financiers would prefer to keep it that way. What would be a rational reason for divulging why you turned down a potential opportunity? You can't really formulate one.

Also, this doesn't have anything to do with VC's per se. It happens in Private Equity, Fixed Income, Credit, Public Equities ...

Re: VCs are liars. And so am I.

#14

Post by joering2 »

heretohelp wrote: post #8
mindcrime wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh, no, no, no... at least in my case, I certainly didn't mean to imply that I'd take any bridges as having been burned. When I say "fuck ya'll" I mean that in the best possible way... I want to have that chip on my shoulder, I'd take it as them having done me a favor if somebody tells me that they think I can't hack it. I feed off that shit. Best to give a vague, non-committal reason so there's always a chance they…

You write and think like a cocky 13 year old.

But yet you couldn't even check basic facts like this guy has karma above 3,800 for over 4 years, +500 linkedin connections, tons of software engineering experience, and 19 job recommendations [1].

Sure; he writes and thinks like a kid. Let me ignore him!

[1] http://phillip.onlinked.in/

Re: VCs are liars. And so am I.

#15

Post by nirvana »

Do angels require liquidation preferences and other arbitrary terms (like paying their lawyer fees) that VCs do? Do angels impose bad decisions? (I've seen more than one company lose %50 of its ultimate market value as a result of a VC imposing bad decisions on them.)

Are angels more or less likely to follow the heard or be arbitrary? (EG: he's nervous while pitching us therefore, he must be hiding something)

Since Angels these days have rather large amounts of funds, and the cost of running a company is much smaller -- I believe we'll be able to service up to 200 million customers for about $300/month operating costs excluding salaries which nobody is taking right now.

Do we really even need to deal with VCs anymore?

Why not take a series of Angel investments? Seems many companies could be done in three:

$100k: Seed stage

$100-$500k: Have product/market fit and getting traction.

$500k-$2M: Profitable and want to spend heavily on marketing and growing the team.

Seems like those rounds should be sufficient for a lot of companies, like say Instagram. And they're small enough to be handled by a syndicate of angels. And if the company is of the type that it then needs to raise $5M-$15M for further growth, at that stage you could probably get VCs in on much more reasonable terms.

Re: VCs are liars. And so am I.

#17

Post by tlogan »

The reason why VCs will not tell "team is not strong" is because they can be wrong about the team (people can learn, be better, or they can be misjudged etc.) but that mistake might burn bridges.

Only real friends will tell you "you suck": so step 1 - get some friends.

Re: VCs are liars. And so am I.

#18

Post by mindcrime »

carsongross wrote: post #10
mindcrime wrote: post #2

Feh, just be honest with people. If they get defensive, they get defensive, so what? I'd love to hear you tell me "I just don't think you have what it takes," as that's just going to pour fuel on my fire and motivate me to work that much harder just to spite you. I love negative feedback like that... fuck all ya'll, because when I'm running a billion dollar company and rocking up to your shitty office in my Maserati…

I agree with the honesty part, but if you are basing your self-worth on the ability to roll up on someone in a Maserati... I'm not much of a Rand guy, but I think Roark's response is the best: "But I don’t think of you."

I agree with the honesty part, but if you are basing your self-worth on the ability to roll up on someone in a Maserati...

Of course I'm being partially facetious here. The point is to take negative feedback as a challenge and use it as motivation.

I'm not much of a Rand guy, but I think Roark's response is the best: "But I don’t think of you."

Yeah, ya know, I was just watching The Fountainhead again last week and that scene really jumped out at me. I do admire that outlook, but I also find value in choosing to use doubters doubts as motivation. I know it seems contradictory but it works for me.

Re: VCs are liars. And so am I.

#20

Post by mindcrime »

Jitle wrote: post #11
mindcrime wrote: post #2

Feh, just be honest with people. If they get defensive, they get defensive, so what? I'd love to hear you tell me "I just don't think you have what it takes," as that's just going to pour fuel on my fire and motivate me to work that much harder just to spite you. I love negative feedback like that... fuck all ya'll, because when I'm running a billion dollar company and rocking up to your shitty office in my Maserati…

This response perfectly demonstrates the need to lie as stated in the article. As an investor, you say "no" A LOT. I can't have the 99% of people I talk to walking away with an attitude. I received the introduction to one of our best investments from a CEO we said no to. Do you think that CEO would have made the introduction if I had told him he doesn't have what it takes to be a founder at a VC backed startup?

Do you think that CEO would have made the introduction if I had told him he doesn't have what it takes to be a founder at a VC backed startup?

Maybe, who's to say?

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