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Ask HN: Are VCs Risk Averse?

2 points by decodingvc ↗ HN
I've heard many times founders complaining that VCs don't take enough risk.

As an investor, I feel that there's a lot of risk in every investment decision we make.

Is this job poorly understood? Or is there a different problem?

I've tried to share my view here: https://medium.com/@decodingVC/breaking-bad-mantras-40c60e2e276f

1 comment

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itamarst
Like mutual fund managers, VCs suffer from a classic "agency problem": since they invest other people's money, VCs have the incentive to fail in popular ways. Failing because of a non-fashionable idea means you don't get investment for next fund. Fail in a fashionable way (dot-coms, Uber someday soon) and your investors will stick around, since after all everyone made the same mistake.

This probably leads to many biases not only in what ideas get money, but also which people get money.