[jacquesm]

VCs are under no obligation to invest in outsiders at all.

Yes, it's an old boys network, old boys networks are not illegal nor are they bad. In fact they give the younger boys a fantastic opportunity to side-step the whole thing and start their own network, that's exactly what YC has done.

Whenever you see something like this there is an opportunity.

[matthewowen]

Yeah, sure. I don't think that contradicts my post: I'm just saying that people might be concerned about those things, and an LP might question whether a given VC firm is best managing the assets under its control. The author didn't say that VC firms were obliged to invest in outsiders, just that these rules might give LPs more confidence that firms were behaving properly and in their investors best interests.

That's not a wishy-washy "fairness" thing: it's a concern about whether the firm is fulfilling its obligations to its backers. You don't have to agree with the concern... but it isn't an unreasonable thing to be worried about.

[jacquesm]

The author is not an LP with a VC. He feels he's in competition with the VC partners for their money, different situation entirely.

As an LP he might take issue with this, but for that you have to be an LP first and LPs typically do not take issue with this but actually feel that their money is well spent (whether that's correct or not is another matter).