[Waterluvian]

Why would someone doing executive work at a massive and well-established corporation be expected to know how VC works?

[ghaff]

That seems obvious? At least in the tech industry, I'd expect someone in an executive role to have some understanding of VC given how it influences so much that happens in the space. If you hired someone from a traditional manufacturing company, maybe not.

[Waterluvian]

I think more than anything this demonstrates the “my context must be everyone’s context” fallacy.

The VC world is a little slice of the tech world. Hacker News is a wee little slice of the tech community.

[ghaff]

If you're in a senior management position in a company which has any M&A activity, I'd expect you to have at least some understanding of VC basics.

[Waterluvian]

“I’d expect”

That’s my point. People think their context is everyone’s context. You expect the world to be a certain way. Is it?

[ghaff]

I'd expect a senior executive who doesn't know anything about basic accounting, M&A, or other skills associated with managing a large company to basically be a bad hire in most cases unless it's some specific skill kept off to the side.

[hackitup7]

I've never met an executive at a well known tech company who didn't know the basics of how VC works (e.g. incentivized to seek home runs).