The content of this post isn't unique to BIG VCs. Anytime you take money from someone that is capable of following-on, and they don't, it's a major bad signal. However, on the flip side, a professional VC that comes in at A or later is going to know that any investor w/ a strategy that doesn't include following on, is gonna be biased in the other direction.
The bigger miss, from a post like this, is saying the problem is getting in bed with a BIG VC too early. Take money where you can get it from, if you need it. Most people will never be in a position to choose one firm's money over another. And today's climate, most rounds are syndicated (this post is a few years old). However, the risk / rewards of getting involved with any professional investor is they give you capital to accelerate growth, but will kill you if you fail to meet or exceed expectations. Big VCs want to follow on and aren't looking to tank a successful company. However, if you don't do your job, they won't normally throw good money after bad.
Investors only become a problem if the founder(s) don't do their job, which is to grow HUGE FAST! If you do that, you won't have to worry about the aforementioned situation where a BIG VC failing to follow-on kills you in a future round.
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[ 5.4 ms ] story [ 15.6 ms ] threadThe bigger miss, from a post like this, is saying the problem is getting in bed with a BIG VC too early. Take money where you can get it from, if you need it. Most people will never be in a position to choose one firm's money over another. And today's climate, most rounds are syndicated (this post is a few years old). However, the risk / rewards of getting involved with any professional investor is they give you capital to accelerate growth, but will kill you if you fail to meet or exceed expectations. Big VCs want to follow on and aren't looking to tank a successful company. However, if you don't do your job, they won't normally throw good money after bad.
Investors only become a problem if the founder(s) don't do their job, which is to grow HUGE FAST! If you do that, you won't have to worry about the aforementioned situation where a BIG VC failing to follow-on kills you in a future round.