After reading so many of these horror VC stories here, my advice to fellow founders always has been: reference the firm and more specifically the partner who you will be working with, talk to existing founders, past founders (especially when things didn’t go as expected with the company), people that have worked in the past with the partner, etc.
The reality is that Silicon Valley is relatively small, and most likely you are 1 degree away from everyone, especially if you have been long enough here.
When a VC is investing in you, they probably already referenced you a lot, and you should do the same.
Your company is probably one of the most important projects of your life and you will be working very hard and long into it, and who you will work with is one of the most important decisions you will make.
I was once pitching in a board room at a top 3 VC firm for a $15M Series A.
12 people in the meeting. One of the GPs fully fell asleep. Out cold for 30+ minutes. Nobody acknowledged it. Everyone just kept going.
I kept presenting my Series A slides to an unconscious man in a Herman Miller chair and somehow that was considered normal. That's venture capital.
You might fly across the country to perform for people who may or may not be conscious.
It's a dance.
And sometimes you lead and sometimes you follow and sometimes your partner is unconscious.
If you're raising right now, just know: every founder has a story like this. The process is weird. The power dynamic is weird. You're not crazy for thinking it's weird.
No one talks about it because they want to continue raising. But I'm happy to stick my neck out there.
It is weird.
