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by AlexBlom 5061 days ago
I'm unsure the perception of B2B among VC's is as bad as commonly thought.

My last startup was pure B2B, and during our valley runs I found most potential partners / vc's / workers were very excited (in part because of the opportunity, in part because of perceived market movements, and in part because B2B can be fun) at the prospect of growing in B2B.

B2B companies may not spawn a media darling, but it doesn't make the business itself unsexy.
1 comments
debacle 5061 days ago
The problem with B2B is that it doesn't follow the standard startup model.

In B2C, if you have 10,000 users, VCs will just start to look at you. In B2B, except in some specific instances, if you have 10,000 users you're already a million dollar company.

Thus, in B2C the risk/reward inflection point occurs much later chronologically than in B2B, and for a B2B business, I, personally, think that there is far too much ambiguity before that inflection point.

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btilly 5061 days ago
...doesn't follow the standard startup model.

Remember, the standard startup model is, "Fail."

Anything you can do to not follow that is good. ;-)

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AlexBlom 5061 days ago
I'm unsure this is true anymore. If you know how to play B2B (the same lies true for B2C), it's entirely plausible to get the first 1-5 deals pre-build (I did).

If you consider that equal to the first traction burst in B2C, then I'd argue that the ambiguity for B2C is just as large, if not larger, in the early days.

It is my no means an overall risk / reward inflection point (and if you are referring to 'this company is guaranteed to exit' I agree), but as an early 'this might have something' B2B can validate fast.

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mindcrime 5061 days ago
> The problem with B2B is that it doesn't follow the standard startup model

Is there even such a thing? Anyway, it's not that VCs don't fund B2B startups... they absolutely do, and there are even firms that specialize in that space (or at least have a heavy focus on it). A16Z, for example, are known for investing heavily into enterprise plays:

http://a16z.com/portfolio/portfolio-enterprise-companies/

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hkmurakami 5061 days ago
If there is such a thing as the standard startup model, then I'd argue that it would be the B2B model.

The current mold of web/social/mobile/location startups is the exception to the norm in the history of high tech startups.

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