The stereotype paints venture capitalists as semi-interested parties who'll mercilessly kill a startup they helped launch if the numbers dictate it. They are very much aware that their decisions affect large groups of people. And as is the case with so many internally motivated, highly successful people, venture capitalists' failures haunt them more than their successes please them. Dagres drops the Harry Harvard and leans forward. He shakes his head.
Advice is worthless.
Companies don't need advice. They want you to get down there and help them turn the crank. Only Connect Everybody claims to know a guy who knows a guy who slipped a venture guy a business plan at the airport and got a couple million for his trouble. You have a better chance of being hit by lightning while playing polo in your underpants. Battery Ventures sees about 20,000 business plans a year and makes only 25 to 30 investments, its partners say.