
Worst VC Firms' Websites - stefanobernardi
http://bernardi.me/2012/05/worst-venture-capital-firms-websites/
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zitterbewegung
You know who else has a horrible website? Berkshire Hathaway
<http://www.berkshirehathaway.com/> . Lets think about this for a minute. Do
VC firms want people to go to their website and email them about a cool
investment? How do people actually interact with VC firms is that its usually
a one on one with the company that they are trying to invest in. Therefore,
they don't really need a expensive website to be successful.

~~~
ryanlchan
There's a great point here - the VCs are just like any good start up, and are
investing only in things that help make them more successful. The difference
here is that the VCs are likely satisfied focusing on qualifying inbound
leads, whereas most of the businesses we see on HN are actively trying to
attract traffic with outbound messaging.

A nice looking webpage is the VC equivalent of a 'vanity metric' - sure it
looks good, but does it help them source great investments? Perhaps it raises
the number of views on their website, but are any of them the high-quality
entrepreneurs they'd like to invest in?

Frankly, I'd think that the problem that the top VC firms is not knowing
enough people, it is finding enough time to properly evaluate them all. If
you're picking a VC based on their website and not their intrinsic business
worth or ability to help you succeed, you probably aren't the kind of business
they're looking for.

~~~
trevelyan
> you probably aren't the kind of business they're looking for.

Sure, but isn't this the problem?

Assume you have a revenue-generating business making 250k in year two. In my
opinion, this startup should be valued at considerably more than 10x revenue.
But that sort of valuation is hard to get, and likely impossible if the
founder has to jump through hoops simply to get introductions.

What will these companies do? They'll focus on growth and avoid raising
capital. Because once you break about a million capital becomes really easy to
raise, and you can get money on far better terms than any VCs will offer. So
there's an adverse selection problem here that effectively concentrates
investment in high-risk businesses, since as soon as companies become self-
sustainable pursuing funding for growth is usually less preferable to chasing
down outside money.

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bfe
The Lightspeed Venture graphic is the best, looks like they were aiming for
the Peter Jackson tricks of perspective to make the front row guys look like
hobbits. Maybe looking to corner the hot Shire startup scene?

~~~
stefanobernardi
At least they're aware of it and are going to do something about it:
[https://twitter.com/#!/lightspeedvp/status/20281354853405491...](https://twitter.com/#!/lightspeedvp/status/202813548534054913)

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conorh
I did the new version of Kleiner Perkin's site (<http://www.kpcb.com>) and the
first thing I did was to review the other VC sites out there. It is amazing
how many VC websites look like they were coded up by an intern in a weekend.

~~~
pg
I bet a lot of other VC funds copy this.

~~~
conorh
Hah. Thanks pg. They should of course feel free to reach out to me if they
need a hand ;).

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Aloisius
I cringe whenever I see team photos of them where they've been put in
aggressive postures or awkward poses.

My favorite though is First Round's where they make everyone the same height:
<http://firstround.com/team/>

~~~
MrMatters
It's pretty cool how hovering over the name highlights which person it is.

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k33n
If you'd turn down funding from legendary VC firms because they have a shitty
website... well good luck with that.

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showerst
I'm not so sure there's much of a correlation between successful investing and
having a nice site ... <http://www.berkshirehathaway.com/>

That said, I suppose it's fair to expect that companies funding web technology
have passable sites.

~~~
fleitz
Looks like it was designed by Craig Newmark.

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webwright
It's certainly reasonable to say that VCs shouldn't be great at building web
sites. But I want my investors to give a damn. One of my favorited tweets (by
Alexis Ohanian):

"Give a damn. Give so many damns. As a startup/small shop, it's the only
competitive advantage you have against incumbents."

I think their website can be a reflection of how much they give a damn. Maybe
they are an incumbent and they don't have to. But if I have the choice to
raise money from someone who still gives a damn, I will.

~~~
hkmurakami
Wouldn't you want your investors to give a damn about their portfolio
companies, rather than give a damn about their own facade of a website?

~~~
webwright
False choice. VCs have a functionally unlimited budget-- they can give a damn
about both with a negligible cost.

And their web site isn't a "facade"-- it's how they communicate with their
future portfolio companies, press, people looking for jobs at startups, new
partner/associate prospects, LPs, etc.

~~~
conorh
I will say, having worked on two VC sites now (see comments on
<http://kpcb.com> below - KP is an exception to this). Most VCs can be
incredibly cheap when it comes to these types of expenses, for whatever reason
they are not willing to pay what it takes to get it done well.

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coverband
This title doesn't convey the meaning you intended. ("Bad web sites", not "bad
VCs"...)

~~~
stefanobernardi
You're right. Any better suggestions?

~~~
biot
The title is currently "Worst VC Firms' Websites". Just move the adjective
over: "VC Firms' Worst Websites" or to get rid of the semi-ambiguous
possessive: "Worst Websites of VC Firms".

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joering2
use search on Polaris Ventures website for: '

Error Type: Microsoft OLE DB Provider for SQL Server (0x80040E14) Unclosed
quotation mark before the character string ' and IsPortfolio=1 order by
CompanyName'. /Search.asp, line 72

\-- feels like 2003 again :)

~~~
mustpax
Time to start a company named "Mobile');DROP TABLE investments; --"

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dlitwak
Totally agree. However, I grew up with a family in the film business, and my
parents always said you could tell who was in charge because they were usually
wearing jeans. The pages/errand boys were the ones in suits.

I also wish their website would be a bit nicer, but they have probably
realized it doesn't matter, they are on top and anyone whose worth one's salt
already knows it.

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gilbax
I would add <http://www.shv.com/> The 90's feeling is very strong with this
one.

~~~
xivusr
The telltale macromedia functions in the inline page javascript, not that you
need to look at the source to tell it was made by dreamweaver.

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brackin
CrunchFund has no website at all. Google ventures has an awesome new site.
Isn't a big deal to the established firms as people will flock if they have
one or not. In fact the big firms almost wholly rely on recommendations and
introductions from current investments so don't want people to easily be able
to cold contact them through their site.

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555imon
At least these pages are working... T-Ventures website (VC company of Deutsche
Telekom) was offline almost the whole last week.

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TomGullen
If VC's were so worried a about how things looked over how they functioned
they probably wouldnt survive as long as they have

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TommyDANGerous
This article is funny that it points out the fact that the websites for the
venture capital firms are lacking and quite horrible. You would think they
would want a better looking site but then again, they are the ones who are
being sought out so why care?

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neurostimulant
I don't know about VC, but people says you can judge how successful a
contractor is by its website; successful one usually has crappy/nonexistent
website.

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sethbannon
"This content requires the Flash Plugin" is something I NEVER want to see on
my VC's website.

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axx
I'm a huge fan of this VC thing called revenue.

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paulhauggis
It's the same reason Google and many huge sites don't care about web
standards...they don't really need to.

