

Some Reflections on VC Investment Decisions - elobrien
http://www.bothsidesofthetable.com/2014/04/27/some-reflections-on-vc-investment-decisions/

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srinivsn
"I’m dubious of entrepreneurs who key buyer value is highest price. Building a
company is hard and the chances of success are low. I’m looking for
entrepreneurs that recognize that supportive VCs who bring relationships,
experience, perseverance, tolerance and who are unflappable in difficult times
are worth their weight in gold. People who solely value highest price as the
decision factor exhibit something about their decision-making processes."

^^^^^ The challenge here as an entrepreneur is that unless you work with a VC
for an extended period of time like a year, it's very hard to know how much
value they're truly going to add. Every VC claims to be the world's most
supportive/connected/the founder's friend, but it's very hard to truly figure
that out without working with them IMO. As a result, it's easier to just
prioritize based on numbers most of the time.

~~~
johnrob
Investors are like employees in the sense that you have to actually work and
get along with them. Unlike employees, however, you can't fire the investors.
So in theory you should be more careful with investors than employees (and we
all know to be careful when hiring). I can thus understand if investors view
price optimizing as incredibly short sited and a character flaw.

~~~
srinivsn
On the other hand, investors are unlike employees in that they can be ignored
if they're not a good fit/not adding value/worse yet, detracting value. Except
if they're on your board.

I guess all I'm trying to say is that it would be cool if there was a way for
investors/entrepreneurs to try each other out first.

~~~
001sky
_Except if they 're on your board._

Pretty sure the Author is a "VC" in the sense that he is investing early with
a BOD seat in his primary investments. That seems relevant--ie, its not
special case--its the base case. Other classes of investor--eg late stage
mezanine--is also often priced more competitevly on price alone. And angels
are typically not investing quite at the stage where BOD governance is coming
into play (pre series A).

