
It’s not that seed investors are smarter – it’s that entrepreneurs are - rpledge
http://cdixon.org/2010/07/05/its-not-that-seed-investors-are-smarter-its-that-entrepreneurs-are/
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dpritchett
I was 2/3 through this before I realized that the point of the post is that
_the author's new venture_ is a better deal for founders than the traditional
VC firm.

I spent most of the post thinking along the lines of "former founder offers
free advice to other founders".

~~~
jey
Sure, cdixon has his biases and own interests like any author, but he's
generally pretty insightful. As readers it's up to us to think critically
about what we're reading and figure out whether or not it actually makes
sense. It's good to be aware of his potential conflicts of interest, but they
don't automatically make him right or wrong.

That said, I do wish he would justify the "amount raised" and "pre-money
valuation" line items under the "Seed+VC" hypothetical scenario column.

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harscoat
Some of CDixon arguments: For non cash intensive startups going after VC it's
a distraction especially if they are not Top Tier VCs: * VCs are extractors
not builders * they are on the board and are going to give their "opinions"
and often they never were tech founders themselves * best advice comes from
having gone through the same thing as the founders: building a company vs
sitting in (board) meetings * if you raised with a VC at seed level and that
VC does not follow up, you are dead (negative signaling) * VCs want to "put a
lot of money at work" to justify their work. The bigger their fund the more
they have to justify their management fees and the less company they fund the
easier the job even if risky. * it is their job not a hobby: pressure to
succeed or pretend. More at stake than for Angels or angels agregate in
seedfunds. Angels most of the time already made their money and built their
reputation. They consider more it play money and more ready to lose it. * It
takes more time to raise with them than with angels or seed funds * VCs by
default take prefered stocks vs common for founders & employees and can add
many death pill clauses, vs more standard (even open source) less agressive
legal documents in the case of seed funds, angels.

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amix
I love this kind of transparency. Making it much easier to be a founder :)

