Venture capitalists are simple people: we've either decided to invest, and we are convincing ourselves that our gut is right (aka, “due diligence”) or there's not a chance in hell. While we may be simple, we're not necessarily forthcoming, so if you think it's hard to get a “yes” out of venture capitalist, you should try to get a conclusive “no.”
This is because there's no upside to communicating a negative decision. Entrepreneurs will simply hate us sooner--instead the game is to string along entrepreneurs in case something miraculous happens to make them look better. (An example of a miracle would be Boeing approving a $5 million purchase order.)
Alas, entrepreneurs are also simple people: If they don't hear a conclusive “no,” they assume the answer is yes. This is an example of the kind of breakdown of communication between venture capitalists and entrepreneurs that causes much pain and frustration for entrepreneurs.
To foster greater understanding among the two groups, here is an exposé of the top ten lies of venture capitalists.
- “I liked your company, but my partners didn't.” In other words, “no.” What the sponsor is trying to get the entrepreneur to believe is that he's the good guy, the smart guy, the guy who gets it; the “others” didn't, so don't blame him. This is a cop out; it's not the other partners didn't like the deal as much as the sponsor wasn't a true believer. A true believer would get it done.
- “If you get a lead, we will follow.” In other words, “no.” As the old Japanese say, “If your aunt had balls, she'd be your uncle.” Well, she doesn't have balls, so it doesn't matter. The venture capitalist is saying, “ We don't really believe, but if you can get Sequoia to lead, we'll jump on the pile.” In other words, once the entrepreneur doesn't need the money, the venture capitalist would be happy to give him some more--this is like saying, “Once you've stopped Larry Csonka cold, we'll help you tackle him.” What entrepreneurs want to hear is, “If you can't get a lead, we will.” That's a believer.
- “Show us some traction, and we'll invest.” In other words, “no.” This lie translates to “I don't believe your story, but if you can prove it by achieving significant revenue, then you might convince me. However, I don't want to tell you 'no' because I might be wrong and by golly you may sign up a Fortune 500 customer and then I'd look like a total orifice.”
- “We love to co-invest with other venture capitalists.” Like the sun rising and Canadians playing hockey, you can depend on the greed of venture capitalists. Greed in this business translates to “If this is a good deal, I want it all.” What entrepreneurs want to hear is, “We want the whole round. We don't want any other investors.” Then it's the entrepreneur's job to convince them why other investors can make the pie bigger as opposed to re-configuring the slices.
- “We're investing in your team.” This is an incomplete statement. While it's true that they are investing in the team, entrepreneurs are hearing, “We won't fire you--why would we fire you if we invested because of you?” That's not what the venture capitalist is saying at all. What she is saying is, “We're investing in your team as long as things are going well, but if they go bad we will fire your ass because no one is indispensable.”
- “I have lots of bandwidth to dedicate to your company.” Maybe the venture capitalist is talking about the T3 line into his office, but he's not talking about his personal calendar because he's already on ten boards. Counting board meetings, an entrepreneur should assume that a venture capitalist will spend between five to ten hours a month on a company. That's it. Deal with it. And make board meetings short!
- “This is a vanilla term sheet.” There is no such thing as a vanilla term sheet. Do you think corporate finance attorneys are paid $400/hour to push out vanilla term sheets? If entrepreneurs insist on using a flavor of ice cream to describe term sheets, the only flavor that works is Rocky Road. This is why they need their own $400/hour attorney too--as opposed to Uncle Joe the divorce lawyer.
- “We can open up doors for you at our client companies.” This is a double whammy of lie. First, a venture capitalist can't always open up doors at client companies. Frankly, he might be hated by the client company. The worst thing in the world may be a referral from him. Second, even if the venture capitalist can open the door, entrepreneurs can't seriously expect the company to commit to your product--that is, something that isn't much more than a slick (10/20/30) PowerPoint presentation.
- “We like early-stage investing.” Venture capitalists fantasize about putting $1 million into a $2 million pre-money company and end up owning 33% of the next Google. That's early stage investing. Do you know why we all know about Google's amazing return on investment? The same reason we all know about Michael Jordan: Googles and Michael Jordans hardly ever happen. If they were common, no one would write about them. If you scratch beneath the surface, venture capitalists want to invest in proven teams (eg., the founders of Cisco) with proven technology (eg., the basis of a Nobel Prize) in a proven market (eg., ecommerce). We are remarkably risk averse considering it's not even our money.
- I'm at a Starbucks in Hawaii writing this blog. I've been at it for ninety minutes. I don't have my charger with me. My PowerBook is out of gas. You're going to have to be happy with the top nine lies of venture capitalists until “Dear God” ships the PowerBook Vaio.
Written at: Starbucks Ward Center, Honolulu, Hawaii.
原文： http://blog.guykawasaki.com/2006/01/the_top_ten_lie.html
VC们其实都是一些简单的人——他们要么决定投资，要么干脆就认为根本没有可能。尽管拒绝的话很简单，但他们却不一定直接说出口。因此如果你感到很难从VC那里得到正面的答复，那么就应该尝试去揣摩一下他们所说的话。
不直接说出“不”字是因为负面交流是毫无益处的。这会让创业者很快讨厌起他们来。其实这种游戏的目的是缠住创业者，等待其创造出奇迹。
不过，企业家们也同样是些“单纯”的人。当他们没听到否定的结论时，就会假想答案是肯定的。这正是两者之间的沟通障碍，也使创业者们受了很多挫折，走了很多弯路。
为了增进两个群体间的相互理解，我决定在此曝光一下VC们的十大谎言。
谎言一：“我喜欢你的公司，但我的合作伙伴不这样想。”换言之：“不行”。这时VC是在让创业者相信自己是一个不错的人，而“罪过都在其他人身上”。
谎言二：“如果有其他领头的风险投资，我们就会跟进。”换言之：“不行”。其实这时VC是在说：“我并不相信你，但如果你得到像Sequoia那样硅谷最好的创投公司来领头，我就会跟上。”这就好比说，当企业家不再需要资金的时候，他们才乐于送上钱来。
谎言三：“再多讲点你们公司吸引人的地方，我们就会投资。”换言之：“不行”。这个谎言可以理解为：“我不相信你描述的故事，但如果你能够以大量营收来证明，我就可能相信。我现在不想对你说‘不行’，因为也有可能我是错的，说不定你能鬼使神差地签订‘财富500强’的企业客户。”
谎言四：“我们希望与其他VC共同投资。”记住，VC都是贪婪的，这一点是永远不会改变的。而在商业中的贪婪可以理解为：“如果是一个好交易，我们就要全盘独揽。”所以顺利的时候，企业家听到的应当是：“我们要投资整个一轮，不希望有其他投资者。”
谎言五：“我们正对你的Team（团队）进行投资。”这其实是一个不完整的说法。多情的你可能把这话理解为：“我们永远不会解雇你，我们因你而投资。”而这全然不是VC要说的。他要说的是：“如果事情进行得不顺利，我们就会解雇你，因为地球离了谁都会转。”
谎言六：“我们有很多资源和时间提供给你的公司。”这时VC很可能是在敷衍——他自己也许早已忙得不可开交。企业家们可以指望一个VC每个月花5到10小时在自己身上。但要记住，这已是极限，而且你还得尽可能地缩短每次董事会议的时间。
谎言七：“这是美妙的投资条款。”事实上，美妙的投资条款是根本不存在的。如果一定要用一个词来形容创业者决定投资条款时的这条道路，那就是“崎岖”。
谎言八：“我们可以为你在我们其它的客户中打开便利之门。”这是一句双重谎言。首先，一个VC不会总能在客户中施行便利。其次，即使他能办到，你也不能真就指望那些客户会一直用你的产品。
谎言九：“我们喜欢早期投资。”VC们都幻想着早期投入100万美元，就能在日后拥有像Google般的大比例股权。这才是他们所喜欢的“早期投资”。而你知道为什么大家都熟悉Google那惊人的投资回报率吗？这个原因就跟我们都熟悉迈克尔·乔丹一样：因为他们都绝无仅有。如果这情况很常见，就没人会去写他们了。所以归根结底，VC要投资的是经过考验的团队、经过考验的技术，并处于一个经过考验的市场中。我们VC是很注重规避风险的。
谎言十：留给你自己去思考——我现在正在夏威夷的一家星巴克写这篇博客，电池即将耗尽。所以剩下的由你去揣摩吧。