“the VC generals lounge in their plush tents in the rearguard, ordering frontal assaults on unassailable redoubts, no matter the casualties, to claim the glory of a capturing this hill or that town.”

I just remembered why I wish Antonio wrote more.

@antoniogm @Jack_Raines @spindl_xyz “There'll be a different set of generals the next war anyhow.”

@antoniogm @spindl_xyz Good investors are open about their preferences but amenable to portco choices. This is also why it's really valuable to have investors who have good portfolios, because they aren't desperate and all of their hopes aren't riding on you...

@antoniogm @spindl_xyz Love it. Battle of Verdun — VC style

@antoniogm @spindl_xyz banger. we need another book antonio. it's been 10 years now...

@antoniogm @spindl_xyz Interesting experiment.

You get an offer for 4x. VC says no. So you offer to have him buy the majority of your stock at 4x. See if he says yes.

Maybe negative controls should ratchet back. Veto on acquisition goes away at 2x. 3x. Etc. Or time based. Goes away after 5 years.

@antoniogm @spindl_xyz It "makes sense" since VCs are (largely) not investing their own money. It's about maximizing carry, which is swinging for the fences. A loss doesn't matter as much as big win.

"Show me the incentive and I'll show you the outcome"

@antoniogm @spindl_xyz Similar situations happen in PE as well. Investors have a vision for a company but only the best investors build that based on a practical assessment of where the company/team are. Investors also tend to forget that mgmt are people rather than widgets.

@antoniogm @spindl_xyz I am happy I got out alive

@antoniogm @spindl_xyz tbh the asleep VC story is wild but also not surprising at all. vcs pushing founders to keep building instead of taking an exit is such a classic move

@antoniogm @spindl_xyz you know i felt that in my soul. the spinoff sale was my 10x, and those vcs were dead wrong. just laugh and move on.

@antoniogm @spindl_xyz Immediately thought of this

@antoniogm @spindl_xyz The founders should decide these things, not investors.

If founders want to sell, investors should let them.

If founders want to keep going, investors shouldn’t try to push them to sell.

This is why it’s good to have fellow founders as investors. We get it.

@antoniogm @spindl_xyz Your continual comparing of working in the startup ecosystem to war is unbecoming. Unless you accidentally gave the wrong click rate to the IRGC, crypto’s biggest sponsor, none of you idiots shilling crypto adsense or whatever the fuck it was were in any danger at any point.

@antoniogm @spindl_xyz Typical VC incentives in full display. 🤝 Short-term value extraction over long-term signal. You chose the right move.

@antoniogm @spindl_xyz chaos monkey 2 when?

@antoniogm @spindl_xyz Can u please write more

@antoniogm @spindl_xyz It makes total sense if you look at their incentives. VC is the canonical asymmetric trade: one Google-like return can outweigh many, many writeoffs. A bunch of small returns does nothing for their fund.

@antoniogm @spindl_xyz well said