[robbfitzsimmons]

Even taking your skepticism about Chinese investment at face value, having LP involvement is tremendously different from operational involvement or investment committee involvement.

Having been involved in LP reporting at a seed fund, I can say that it happens regularly but infrequently (quarterly, or at most monthly) and at a 30,000 foot level. I've really never seen LPs interact with portfolio companies at a seed stage, beyond chatting at a cocktail party after the annual meeting.

Besides, given the nature of the platform, if they're looking into trends and products, isn't that information publicly available (this is just adding money behind the top syndicate deals on AngelList)?

[rebootthesystem]

You are probably absolutely correct. Yet, based on watching what's gone on with China from my front seat in manufacturing I can't help but remember a multitude of instances where someone said something akin to "what's the big deal with having them ..." and few years later they are out of business or hooked to China in a big way.

China looks at things at a different time scale than we do. Among other things, companies can sell at insane prices because they make their profit at the end of the year when the Chinese government hands out 15% "bonuses" on their exports. I've been in businesses where a 15% net at the end of the year would have been a dream.

When you are dealing with someone who has been systematically eroding your industrial base over decades you have to, at one point, take pause. I know I might come off as paranoid, I get that. There's a reason for that. I have experienced the "China effect" personally. It can be absolutely devastating. And nobody is doing a thing about it (not sure it is possible to any more).