Marc Andreessen's blog is just killing me. This is the best blog i have discovered in the past 6 months. He wrote another great post, this time on how startups and entrepreneur should face a "no" from a VC.
I am very attentive to this post because for me this is the most difficult and painful part of my VC job. As Marc is saying a No is not necessarily a judgement that your project is not interesting. Pay attention to his note on how to optimize risks in your presentation and project. I guess he has a point, but from my short VC experience this is not enough to get a YES. Really not. Timing could be one, competing portfolio another, trade-off with other deals (at a given time a VC cannot make more than a certain number of deal)....
Actually i still see today many companies i said no 6/12 months ago, because i am interested to understand how they progressed/changed in their approach and even sometimes learn from my own mistakes by passing on a company that eventually is starting to be successful. Saying NO is also a learning process for a VC, not only for the entrepreneur. At least this is how i see it
Also like i already said too sometimes A no can be a great opportunity for something you don't know yet.
Again a must read to all entrepreneurs
Different subject: Marc's blog is also killing me because it is going against the principles that usually attract me in a good blog: Short posts to the point, with great design and visual elements. Here this is the opposite: Boring design, No visual, VERY long posts. But EXCELLENT content.
What i like also is the personal notes beyond entrepreneur/vc posts on non business related issues. If you take VC blogs, they all mostly talk about VC matters. Only Fred Wilson dares to go beyond the business limit.
I believe a VC blog should also show some human face: it does not mean expose your whole private life!
Talking about business plans and metrics is not enough to show who you really are. And i sincerely believe that entrepreneurs that come to VCs need something more than just dollars. They need people they want to spend quality time with.
I also posted on this subject (different angle) a while back -
http://www.webx0.com/2006/06/rating_vc_answe.html
Posted by: Yaron Galai | 20 June 2007 at 03:22 PM