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Because being right is FAR more important than personal approval

From Daring Fireball, an excellent post by John Casasanta¹ on dealing with Venture Capitalists and why it's not going to be worth the effort. The money shot from John's post:

The VC mentality
Here’s a bit of a dialog I recently had with a VC:

random VC: “How many apps do you expect to have finished by the end of the year?”
me: “Around half a dozen.”
random VC: “What if you could have 100?”
me: “Well, we’re having trouble finding one great programmer now and great designers are also really hard to come across.”
random VC: “We’re in Silicon Valley… you may not be able to find great programmers here but we surely have access to lots of decent ones.”
me:

Clues for the clueless, clues, clues for the clueless.

To anyone looking at VCs...remember this: VCs don't give a fuck about your dream, your vision, your passion. They care about one thing...making a pile of money. For every dollar they "give" you, they expect a metric shit-ton in return. Every dollar they "give" you gives them another hook into your work. Once they have enough hooks, they go from your best friend to Snoop's evil twin with a giant right hand, slapping yo' ho' ass down screaming "WHERE'S MY MONEY, BITCH?"

If you know them well enough, ask someone who was at Dantz during their VC glory days about that...dance. Or anyone else. Yes, I know Guy Kawasaki is a VC. If you think he writes those checks because he's a great guy, you need to stop sniffing glue.

If you're even thinking about dancing with VCs, read John's article. If you have a good idea, you can always find money. What you cannot find is your dream once you sell it away.

1) Yes, I know Casasanta and I are not anything resembling friends, buds, or even polite acquaintences. So what? In one matter, he was wrong, in this one, he's right. If I'm going to call him out when I think he's full of shit, I have the reciprocal obligation to praise him when I think he's right. Besides, who cares if we like each other. He did good work this time. Good on him.

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Critical Thought

Categories: Mac Matters

Posted by John C. Welch at 20:48 | Permalink

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From Daring Fireball, an excellent post by John Casasanta¹ on dealing with Venture Capitalists and why it's not going to be worth the effort. The money shot from John's post:

The VC mentality Here’s a bit of a dialog I recently had with a VC: random VC: “How many apps do you expect to have finished by the end of the year?” me: “Around half a dozen.” random VC: “What if you could have 100?” me: “Well, we’re having trouble finding one great programmer now and great designers are also really hard to come across.” random VC: “We’re in Silicon Valley… you may not be able to find great programmers here but we surely have access to lots of decent ones.” me:

Clues for the clueless, clues, clues for the clueless. To anyone looking at VCs...remember this: VCs don't give a fuck about your dream, your vision, your passion. They care about one thing...making a pile of money. For every dollar they "give" you, they expect a metric shit-ton in return. Every dollar they "give" you gives them another hook into your work. Once they have enough hooks, they go from your best friend to Snoop's evil twin with a giant right hand, slapping yo' ho' ass down screaming "WHERE'S MY MONEY, BITCH?" If you know them well enough, ask someone who was at Dantz during their VC glory days about that...dance. Or anyone else. Yes, I know Guy Kawasaki is a VC. If you think he writes those checks because he's a great guy, you need to stop sniffing glue. If you're even thinking about dancing with VCs, read John's article. If you have a good idea, you can always find money. What you cannot find is your dream once you sell it away.

1) Yes, I know Casasanta and I are not anything resembling friends, buds, or even polite acquaintences. So what? In one matter, he was wrong, in this one, he's right. If I'm going to call him out when I think he's full of shit, I have the reciprocal obligation to praise him when I think he's right. Besides, who cares if we like each other. He did good work this time. Good on him.

Technorati Tags: Critical Thought