[silverlake]

I raised a few $M with just 10 slides during the VC frenzy last year. I agree with the post but I view this from a social angle. The entire VC industry is driven by BullShit. VCs raise money from LPs (pensions, rich people) by claiming they have deal flow (they can get into the next big thing) and an “investing thesis” (some BS about the future, usually a bombastic spin on a current fad). VCs are finance bros that believe their own BS.

Your pitch should fit the current investing zeitgeist. If you pitch some oddball idea then you need to move your audience from 0 to 100% in 1 hr. If you pitch “AI generated metaverse for basketweaving” then the background hype has sold half your story. But also, VCs need other VCs to co-invest. They need to explain this investment to their LPs. It’s easier to pitch AI nonsense than something truly novel.

Every VC wants to see Matt’s pitch because he’s got a great resume. VCs don’t invest alone, so they will pass the deck around to their VC network. But it’s also sharing deal flow: I send you this, please send me the decks you’ve got.

VCs like to keep their options open. Even if they hate your idea, if A16Z invests then they’ll want to get back in. Or if you succeed then they’ll want to get into the next round. I had a VC offer a very low valuation. When I got 10X more elsewhere, they called back that they wanted in. The numbers are all BS: valuations, seed size, etc. Remember, their goal is to invest as cheaply as possible. Your goal is to sell as little of your company as possible.

Strangely, BS artists love other BS artists. Adam Neumann is a God-tier bullshit messiah with sociopathic self-confidence. It’s no wonder that he raised billions after the self-dealing disaster at WeWork. Matt is right: confidence is insanely important. Your company is a $1T opportunity that will change the course of humanity. (In fact, outrageous confidence is important everywhere. Humans are just really gullible fools.)