The Art of the Start/Kawasaki 134 - 135

135
1) Venture capitalist believe that the rules are different for them.
2) They believe they are entitled to special treatment.
3) Venture capitalists aren’t necessarily different from you and me—they just happen to manage hundreds of millions of dollars.

Venture capitalists..
· They don’t know any more than you do about your sector. Still could you not think that they do when they are managing hundreds of millions of dollars?
· Getting a top-tier investor doesn’t guarantee that you’ll succeed. These firms make many bets, and they assume that most won’t pan out.
· The moment you take a dollar of outside money, you lose “control”. Control has nothing to do with the math of voting shares. When you take outside money, you’re obligated to all shareholders even if they own a minority position.
· Lower your expectations of what they can do for you, and you won’t be as disappointed. Outside investors can open doors for you to kick-start sales and partnerships. They can help you find future investors. They can prevent you from making mistakes if they’ve see other companies make similar mistakes. They can make the world take you slightly more seriously because “they invested in you.” But this is about it.