VC Websites – a Petty Crime

One of the most frustrating aspects of being an entrepreneur raising VC-funding is navigating the notoriously uninformative VC-websites.

Weeding through the gratuitous marketing blabla that insults ("we are unique because we back exceptional founders and add value beyond money") in the hope of finding so much as a hint of what these guys actually do, is dull at best but sometimes is simply infuriating. Many will not even say if they invest at Seed, Series-A or later stage. They often use revenue thresholds to define cutoff points. But they do not talk about them. Some list sectors they invest in. Some don't. Geography usually goes entirely unmentioned until you get that post-intro email "we only invest in XYZ". Great. If that is so, why don't you just say so and save all of us a lot of time?

Of course, there are exceptions to the rule. But in many cases, the thinking behind this unclarity and lack of a mention of even the most basic of investment criteria is FOMO. The fear to miss that one deal. That one potential unicorn that falls outside of those criteria. So better not define any specific criteria. Keep that funnel open! Opportunism is a virtue!!

At the same time, EVERY VC is lecturing entrepreneurs about the importance of focus.

"FOCUS is the key to success", we are told.

A real nugget of wisdom.

That's value-added, right there.

Please, for the sake of everyone involved, take your own advice!

Navigating VC websites need not and should not feel like this or like this. It should feel like this.

Define what you know, how to do best. Think about where you can actually add value. Focus. Then communicate that focus. First internally. Then publicly. That would be the first step towards showing that you actually respect the entrepreneurs that show up at your virtual doorstep. That you see them as partners. That you value their time. An uninformative website tells me: "We don't care about your time. You can weed through Crunchbase. Ask around. It's not our problem, right? We've got the money. So we know you will do the work."

That's not how you communicate with a partner. That's how you communicate with a serf.

Don't steal our time, please. Don't waste yours. Don't frustrate your associates. Don't waste your LPs money. Please!

All of that time and money would be much better invested in building great companies.

Thank you!

#rantend

#VC

#fundraising

#sorrynotsorry