丑陋的风险投资人

    我热爱初创企业，我喜欢跟创业者一道为萌芽阶段的公司共同努力。我享受那种将新颖而独特的商业理念转变为现实的兴奋感。我十分乐见用辛勤工作换来的成功。在我的整个职业生涯中，我从没见过哪个时期像现在这样富有创造力和创新精神。我在我们的风投公司方得力集团（Foundry Group）看到的商业方案比以往任何时候都要多。不仅如此，很多商业方案非常有趣，也很有投资前景。

    我热爱风投事业，这点不用多说。我乐于帮助创业者们实现他们的理念；我乐于为他们提供咨询和指导，协助他们获得最大的成就；我乐于接受寻找最佳投资项目的挑战。和充满创造力的杰出人才共事，让我充满活力。

    但同时，我也有些担心，有些问题我实在是不吐不快。

    我担心形形色色的公司成立庆典、公司新名称启用大会、新网站上线仪式，以及初创企业平台音乐嘉年华等等声势浩大的活动甚至让我们忽略了一个基本的事实：公司的发展壮大最终靠的是勤奋工作而不是浮夸宣传。

    我担心风险投资者与创业者只交谈了短短一个小时，就仓促签署投资协议条款；我担心风险投资者在对创业者进行审核的初期阶段就确定了投资额度，好像一切已经胸有成竹；我担心风险投资者马不停蹄地四处宣传、自吹自擂，只顾自己出风头。如此一来，风险资本俨然就成了个人崇拜的牺牲品，风投已将“帮助初创企业获得成功”这项本职工作抛到了脑后。在我看来，风投行业最基本的原则是：排在第一位的是创业者第一，而不是风投本身。但据我所知，同意这一看法的人并不多。

    千万别误解我的意思，我当然也喜欢那些庆祝派对。我认可为了公司重大的里程碑事件而举办派对，或者参加CES、SXSW等行业性活动；我也认可携现有客户、潜在客户和合作伙伴共同参加社交活动。但我感觉很少有人问“你看到某某公司的新产品了吗？真的很棒！”，而越来越多的人在谈论“你会去某科技公司的某某派对吗？”一点没夸张，我已经收到了30份SXSW派对的邀请函，但从未收到参加专题讨论会的邀请。常常有人跟我说“某某干得真漂亮”（最近我听过不下十次），十有八九他们的意思只是“中规中矩”而已。

    我听到了越来越多这样的事：初创企业向风险投资者推销创业点子，结果当场就拿到了投资意向。（创业者们请注意，如果某个风投对自己的投资过程如此草率，你真的愿意与他们合作吗？）风投聊起合作公司的方式也跟过去明显不同，现在风投更加以自我为中心（大量使用“我”这个字眼，将公司成绩据为己有，而不是把自己放在参与者或者协助者的位置上）。

    当然，很多文章都已经讨论过估值上涨及其给刚刚起步的初创公司所带来的潜在风险。再加上派对风愈演愈烈，很多风险投资家都会出席，但没有人会真心投入（依我所见，这对创业者来说并不是什么好事）。

    I love the start-up world. I love working with founders and young companies. I love the excitement of working on business ideas that are new and different. I love seeing the success that often comes from this hard work. I've never before in my professional life seen a time of such innovation and creativity. At Foundry we see more business plans now than we ever have. And, what's more, more of those business plans are really interesting (and fundable).

    It goes without saying that I love the business of venture capital. I love helping entrepreneurs work on their ideas. And I love helping companies figure out how to become as successful as possible. I love the challenge of trying to figure out the next great investment and the energy that comes from working with amazing and creative people.

    But I'm worried and I wanted to get it out there.

    I'm worried that in all the hype, in all the "we launched our company" events, and "we changed our name again" parties, and "we redid our website – come celebrate!" shindigs, and the SXSW parties, and the hoodies, that we're losing sight a bit of the really hard work that is creating and building a business.

    I'm worried that in offering term sheets after a single 60 minute meeting, and in pricing early stage deals like they were already late-stage successes and most egregiously by constantly running around self promoting and self aggrandizing, VCs are falling prey to a cult of personality about themselves and forgetting that their jobs are to help companies be successful. And as far as I can tell, very few seem to believe what I hold as a fundamental tenet of the venture industry, which is that entrepreneurs come first, not VCs.

    Don't get me wrong. I enjoy a good party (not to mention a good hoodie!). And I recognize the reasons to celebrate important company milestones and for industry events like CES and SXSW. And in bringing a bunch of customers, prospects and partners together at a social event. But I feel like I'm hearing less of "did you see XYX company's great new product" and more "are you going to so and so's party at ad:tech?" I'm not exaggerating when I tell you that I've received 30 invites to SXSW parties but not a single invite to a panel session at the conference. And when someone tells me that someone is "killing it" (a phrase I think I hear 10 times a day these days), more often than not they mean "doing the job they were hired for."

    I hear more and more stories about companies making a pitch to a VC and having an offer before they walk out of the room (entrepreneurs: do you really want to work with someone who puts so little thought into their investment process that they would do this?). And the way VCs talk about the companies they work with has clearly shifted to be substantially more VC-centric (lots of use of "I" and taking credit for company success as something they themselves created rather than participated in or helped with).

    And, of course, much has been written about rising valuations and the potential risk this poses to early-stage companies. Not to mention the increasing popularity of the "party round," where many VCs participate but no one actually takes ownership (also not good for entrepreneurs, in my opinion).