

4 Things Some VCs Do That I Don't Like - gatsby
http://bhorowitz.com/2010/04/13/four-things-some-vcs-do-that-i-dont-like/

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kareemm
> The valor to tell an entrepreneur precisely why you are not going to invest
> in her company rather than giving the traditional “VC no” by just going
> dark.

When I was raising an angel round for my last company, one well-known angel
promised us an answer 24 hours after we met with him. He gave us a "no" the
next day. But I respected him tons because his quick decision made him stand
out markedly from everybody else we talked to, most of whom gave us the "VC
No" by requesting lots of meetings and / or going dark.

~~~
joshu
saying NO is really hard, and takes a lot of strength. it's one of the big
reasons i am really getting away from investing right now.

~~~
kylebragger
Joshua, if I may ask: would you mind elaborating a bit? Is it the fear of
letting someone down, concern you may be making a mistake in passing,
something else? All of the above? Thank you.

~~~
joshu
It's just hard to reject people. I'm an engineer type. I like looking at
problems and solving them; the harder the better. The difficulty is often that
the entrepreneur is the problem. Giving a real reason is tough.

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olalonde
"They confuse pattern matching with knowledge."

Seems we have the same problem on HN...

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fedd
> They confuse pattern matching with knowledge

> Rather than saying, “Most companies who sell at this stage, regret doing so,
> and here’s why,” they’ll say, “Don’t sell now, that’s a stupid idea.”

i know why. if they start to explain, the founder will start seek for the
reasons why his situation is different. if he really founds, the vc will
either fail to explain, either they start an infinite conversation.

that means - pick smart vcs for this not to happen! :)

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jefe78
Interesting article. Makes me wonder what people's overall experiences have
been with VCs. We're on the verge of taking that step and I've only heard
horror stories so far. Any positive stories out there?

~~~
joshu
I loved mine so much I took money from them again.

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zelandpanther
It's good to know about this things that VC's do. Especially this last thing
about they toughness that sometimes is pointless if potential entrepreneur
does not have benefit after they say NO.

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techtalsky
Good job on making the accurate, non-sensational title HN'ers ask for. I'm
sure Ben could have got more attention with, "4 Hateful Things VC's do," but
he didn't.

