[FlailFast]

As much as I like Fred Wilson, he occasionally does these native ad blog posts about companies in USV's portfolio and I have to admit it leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I don't doubt his sincerity; when it comes down to it, I think he's trying to help startups and entrepreneurs, and the best way he can do that is reference his portfolio companies...but ultimately "an experience that a company I'm intimately familiar with" winds up feeling like "I have a large audience of highly networked people reading my blog and I should leverage this to promote my investments."

[twelvedigits]

I think you're confusing a venture capitalist with a journalist.

Venture capitalists are in the business of growing the value of their companies.

In this case, Fred did a great job of re-introducing me to one of his companies. I didn't understand why Brewster was important, but via his thoughtful post in which he shares personal experience, he's highlighted a pain point that I also share. I'll probably try the service now, and it may even make my life easier.

Most importantly, if Fred Wilson (or Mark Suster, or any other VC) only blogged about how great his companies are, nobody would read his blog. Instead, he built a loyal readership by writing on provocative topics, having an opinion, and starting conversations. His writing-to-promotion ratio is skewed very heavily in favor of writing.

[theuri]

Agreed. If you keep writing posts like this, as a VC, you risk losing one of the most important differentiating points you have - your credibility and trust. People need to respect you as a thought leader, and not worry about reading blog posts with a "remove bias / advertising" filter in their heads.