

How to put a VC in the hot seat - rbedi
http://tumblr.com/xdt2t38t6b

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tptacek
You stand a very good chance of looking dumb if you walk into a real VC's
office and ask if they're accredited.

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ceejayoz
A "real VC" is unlikely to be a "relatively new investor".

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tptacek
If they call themselves a "venture capital firm" then there's no game
theoretic win to asking if they're accredited. If they aren't, they can't
invest anyways, so hot-seating them is dumb.

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pavel_lishin
_An investor invests in the jockey and not the horse. Consider an investor
like the saddle. If the saddle sucks, the horse and the jockey’s groin will be
sore._

This metaphor hurts my head. A saddle invests in a jockey?

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jamesbkel
I think the idea is that the investor is there to support a talented jockey
(entrepreneur) against the turbulence of the horse (new business). Maybe this
horse got outraced by another horse/jockey, but if the investor should have
faith that the jockey can pick up the saddle and learn how to ride a new
horse.

Agreed, not the best analogy... especially because as I understand a lot more
is invested in horses than jockeys (in actual competitive horse racing). But,
I _think_ that's the point.

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danboarder
Read the VC's website first to answer as many of these questions as you can,
and if you have remaining questions then ask those. But asking "When where you
founded?" to a VC may only show you didn't do your homework.

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jdp23
I strongly disagree with this post on two different levels.

For one thing, starting out on a relationship with a potential future investor
by looking for ways to put them in the hot seat doesn't feel like a success
path for me. They will always be able to make things a lot hotter for you than
the other way around ... so why go there?

Secondly many the specific questions would go better in a post called "how to
give a VC an impression that you don't bothered to prepare for meetings". When
were they founded? It's on their web site. What's their background? Oh, that's
on their web site too. Why haven't you done your homework?

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TheRealReinH
If by "hot seat" you mean "position from which to comfortably reject your
pitch" then I think you're on to something.

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kmfrk
@pg: Please include subdomains in the link descriptions with Tumblr-hosted
articles.

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mikeklaas
There's no subdomain - OP used a tumblr.com/XXXX shortener

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kmfrk
Interesting; normally, shortened URLs are converted to their 301 destination
on HN, but the same does not apply to Tumblr. Hence my confusion.

Thanks for pointing it out.

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daniel-cussen
Half of these are usually publicly available, and therefore homework.

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fvryan
ya i don't think any of these questions are going to put a VC in the hot
seat...

