

Ask HN: Who's right, the VC or the Enterpreneur?  - diminium

This topic Ask PG: Is There A Startup You Regret Not Funding? (Like Fred and AirBnB)(https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4477867) inspired me to write this.<p>How often is this gamed played?<p>The Entrepreneur goes to the VC and ask for money.  The VC tells them what's wrong.  The Entrepreneur "changes" parts of the company to fit the VC advice.  They go back and forth and keep on going until the Entrepreneur is now running a company that has no foundation on what it first started with.<p>A lot of Entrepreneur have no business experience.  The VC's are guys who are rich and thus the Entrepreneur by "default" listens to them for business advice.  Until of course, the company runs into big trouble.  They all chalk it up to "idea too early for it's time".<p>This would be interesting if it weren't for the fact there is another company four doors down that managed to succeed with the same exact idea.  The difference?  The idea itself was closer to the foundation before "expert adivce" started changing a good foundational idea into something they couldn't handle except the "expert" says they must go.<p>So, here's the question.  How does an Entrepreneur with little business knowledge know if the VC is giving them good advice?  How does the VC with little technical knowledge know if they should keep their mouth shut or intervene?  How do you tell who's right?
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kdsudac
Steve Blank would say get out of the building and talk to customers.... let
them decide. Pounding the pavement is a lot of work, but you are actually
passing the buck to the people who will ultimately decide the fate of your
business.

