| VC twitter is excruciatingly cringe. I cannot imagine giving equity to these virtue signaling parrots.* The worst offenders are the people who - have never personally taken a company from zero to one (even worse: when they have internally taken a company from 1 to N, and think that qualifies them). - have a huge portfolio full of incremental companies - constantly talk about trends on Twitter - constantly talk about politics on Twitter - are not currently operating their own moonshot/Unicorn - are a bit too ridiculous when trying to hide their own greed - talk constantly about the importance of "mentoring" you, when really just wanting access to your company - have never actually taken a hard stand/risk on anything in their entire lives Imagine instead getting a small check from Elon Musk when he was operating at Tesla/SpaceX, or even from then-no-name Sam Altman when he was running Loopt (as Stripe did from both). These investors are great because you know they're going to soon step the fuck out of your way and focus on their own projects. They might also be able to actually help you when you need it (both parties respecting each other's scarce time). * Exceptions: PG, Naval, and part-time VC partners that actively operate their own companies. |
I've met quite a few angels and VCs who have exactly one successful exit on their resume. Without more exits, the overwhelming likelihood is that the exit was luck.
Like most humans, they fail to see the luck in their success and believe they know something about business that other people don't. They rely heavily on their experience and push their portfolio companies to make the same decisions they made.
It's possible there's no formula for a great VC, and incentive structures make it unlikely that talented, visionary, humble people are in that role. If you know how to build things, why be a VC instead of building things?