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The Anti VC
My friend wrote this to me about an entrepreneur we know:
"He's looking for the anti VC"
Now that's an interesting statement. What exactly is "the anti VC"?
I presume the anti VC still invests money in your company. If that's the case, what exactly defines the anti VC?
Please add your feature requests in the comments, and I'll assemble the top ten things that define the anti VC by the end of the week.
Comments (48) | Posted May 9, 2007 in Venture Capital and Technology
Comments
The anti-VC is allergic to the phrase "What's your China and India strategy?"
Posted by: Andrew | May 9, 2007 11:18:20 AM
The Anti VC does not get involved in the business
The Anti VC does not want her/his money back
Posted by: Adi | May 9, 2007 12:38:59 PM
The anti VC will actually pay you to get in the deal for the sheer joy of the stress and aggravation of building something great. it's worth it I think.
The anti VC is willing to "whack" troublesome angels and/or hire a hit.
Than, they ask not to be recognized after a successful exit and pays AGAIN for the joy of having been involved.
I may be on to something.
Posted by: howard Lindzon | May 9, 2007 1:00:34 PM
someone with patience?
Posted by: Mark Collier | May 9, 2007 1:01:44 PM
Someone who's willing to take a risk.
Posted by: Yaniv | May 9, 2007 1:16:26 PM
one who invests in decentralization.
one who invests social capital, not monetary capital.
Posted by: kid mercury | May 9, 2007 1:21:19 PM
Someone that is more interested in the idea, than making money off of the idea.
Posted by: Tom Willerer | May 9, 2007 1:37:45 PM
Is it an angel investor? money, common stock, no voting, no leverage, no contacts?
Posted by: Philip James | May 9, 2007 1:38:40 PM
The anti-VC is not looking forward to exit. Corollary: the anti-VC is investing for cash, not growth.
I like kid mercury's comment about social capital. Not that VCs don't have social capital.
Posted by: Timothy | May 9, 2007 1:45:32 PM
Great question. Funny timing, I emailed Craig Newmark and told him he should become the anti-VC just yesterday.
Today when I saw your post, I outlined what is and what is not an anti-VC:
http://www.watchmojo.com/web/blog/?p=1537
Enjoy
Posted by: ashkan karbasfrooshan | May 9, 2007 1:45:59 PM
A VC that isn't aloof,
hard to reach, and hard to talk to ;-) and willing to read a business plan that a guy hands to them on the street.
Posted by: Doug K. | May 9, 2007 1:56:17 PM
Fresh ideas, new products, innovative processes and the like cause our country's standard of living to rise, and that's clearly good. As investors, however, our reaction to a fermenting industry is much like our attitude toward space exploration: We applaud the endeavor but prefer to skip the ride.
Posted by: curmudgeonly troll | May 9, 2007 2:00:09 PM
And I'll add that Chairman Warren has never or rushed for an exit strategy, fired A management team, or done a cramdown financing.
Posted by: curmudgeonly troll | May 9, 2007 2:03:19 PM
The anti VC does not have a set deal size that is arrived at by dividing the amount of capital in his fund by the number of deals they want to do... they invest the amount the company actually needs and can spend effectively at this stage.
The anti VC does not have Powerpoint installed on any of his computers... just lots of rogue demo/beta software.
The anti VC sends his wife's baked goods to his portfolio company product managers on a regular basis.
Posted by: Charlie | May 9, 2007 2:32:01 PM
Someone who listens and wants to learn.
Rather than wants to just pontificate.
(Not bitter.)
Posted by: Rick | May 9, 2007 2:34:49 PM
Not sure, but I can say this about my intepretation of the ANTI-VC.
"the anti VC clearly lays out in advance where the goals are aligned, what a win looks like (from a venture capital perspective) and clearly lays out the roadmap to get there."
(from a venture lense, and not a entreprenuer perspective)
sometimes it is NOT clearly discussed.
the ANTI-VC tells you straight up - the unvarnished truth - and where the pitfalls, and goalposts are.....
Posted by: andy | May 9, 2007 2:46:58 PM
A VC that doesn't like the VC way actually, so a VC that wants to be the last stop before the exit to its portfolio companies, a VC that doesn't want to work with other VC companies and wants immediate exit.
Posted by: Emre Sokullu | May 9, 2007 3:59:37 PM
The VC is a peculiar species formed by the void created when the big bang occurred. While they are thought to be made of quarks and leptons, the make up of their matter is known to be changing, shifting, altering, appearing and disappearing, oftentimes in opposite relation to the amount of money invested in hedge, buyout and LBO funds.
Because of such elusive nature, many think that, from a quantum mechanics perspective, the anti-VC is the same as . . . the VC.
Posted by: AW | May 9, 2007 4:17:26 PM
Fred,
kinda makes me think you should be asking yourself whether he's the anti-entrepreneur you want. You know, the one who has no problem not being CEO, who gladly gives more SOP, who doesn't immediately assume you're out to screw him over, who likes doing the BOD slides, who has not just a feel for the tech but also for the numbers, who's not just a good dealmaker but a great operator, etc.pp.
:)
Max
P.S. I think people need to realize that there are a LOT of VCs out there busting their bums to build good companies. Some of these folk are the most dedicated I've seen in any line of work. Give them a bit of credit and question your stereotypes...
Posted by: Max Niederhofer | May 9, 2007 4:44:57 PM
An anti-VC is anti-venture and anti-entrepreneurial, i.e :
a) s.o with no sense of (ad)venture
b) who lends w/o burdening himself with the risk
In my mind, that's ... a main street banker !
Posted by: Marc Idelson | May 9, 2007 5:01:35 PM
The anti-VC says no, and tells you why.
The VC says maybe.
The anti-VC can deal with the dichotomy of wanting to lead every deal, but not being willing to be the first money in. You never get more calls from VC's who have previously turned you down than when they hear you have a term sheet from someone else...
Posted by: Erik Schwartz | May 9, 2007 5:34:02 PM
On the assumption that an Anti-VC means "the opposite of your average VC", here are my two wish list items:
1) Someone who doesn't think selling to the Enterprise is the ONLY market that is worthy of investment
and
(b) Someone who is aware of all the negative aspects of software patents and doesn't blindly insist that you file for a bunch of them.
Those two would make me inordinately happy (along with a nice investment check, of course)...
Posted by: fewquid | May 9, 2007 5:57:43 PM
The anti-VC is actually smart?
Posted by: The Entrepreneur | May 9, 2007 5:59:43 PM
wants to invest with the current shareholders on the same terms because he believes that this alignment in incentives is critical to success - and is happy to get in at a lower valuation for this trade-off because he recognizes that his downside protection from perferential terms has created miniscule relative value in his past winnings, as compared to his big wins in which he would have done just as well with common shares at a lower valuation.
Posted by: dantinpa | May 9, 2007 7:08:19 PM
An anti-vc is someone who doesn't spend 99% of their time focusing on how the start up is going to make money.
Posted by: Andrew | May 9, 2007 7:08:20 PM
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