VentureBeat - Latest Comments in The idea’s great, but the leadership team stinks…

Re: The idea’s great, but the leadership team stinks…

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Re: The idea’s great, but the leadership team stinks…

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Re: The idea’s great, but the leadership team stinks…

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Re: The idea’s great, but the leadership team stinks…

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Re: The idea’s great, but the leadership team stinks…

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Re: The idea’s great, but the leadership team stinks…

Guest — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 21:52:05 -0000

Go left or Go right?Please help!

Re: The idea’s great, but the leadership team stinks…

Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 18:12:06 -0000

Yep.

Re: The idea’s great, but the leadership team stinks…

ryanh — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 14:30:16 -0000

I agree. What's the point in trying to avoid the truth? Its selfish of the VC not to disclose the reason they aren't interested. They are worried about hurting the feelings of the entrepreneurs? Please! They likely will be turned down 90-100% of the time. The VC owes it to the entrepeneur to provide direct and helpful feedback, and let them be on their way.

Re: The idea’s great, but the leadership team stinks…

PeterA650 — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 13:31:50 -0000

Actually his rationale was more like along these lines: "I'll take a great team with a so-so idea over a so-so team with a great idea anytime".

I have something else to add to that from my own experience: Most startups (certainly the ones I've been involved with over the years) rarely stick (and succeed) with their original plan. That's where the quality of the team comes in.

Re: The idea’s great, but the leadership team stinks…

john — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 13:27:01 -0000

Peter - Understood, but how have VC firms as a whole performed the past decade? I'd take a "great idea" (preferably proprietary) + "great team" over just a "great team" any day.

Re: The idea’s great, but the leadership team stinks…

deancollins — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 14:11:44 -0000

Up front and blunt.

Shortly followed by an offer to buy out the idea. (cash only eg NOT success based shares/options etc).

If as a vc you have the balls to back your vision then you should have no issue offering them a decent cash amount that will convince the founders to hand over their startup so your own team can move it forward.

..... or is the issue really "with the team"?

Cheers,
Dean Collins
www.Cognation.net

Re: The idea’s great, but the leadership team stinks…

Harry — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 13:28:55 -0000

There is a difference between being blunt or being rude. You can let them know, that it is not going to work out, by being honest and blunt but not rude. End of it, they will probably learn more from a blunt approach, opposed to a cozy friendly approach. One day they will run into a VC that might be blunt and rude. If you are asking for venture funding, you should at least expect to be denied and that can also be blunt, but there are worse things in life.

Re: The idea’s great, but the leadership team stinks…

PeterA650 — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 22:13:32 -0000

This came from the mouth of a VC who teaches a class at Stanford: "VCs invest in teams, not ideas".

Re: The idea’s great, but the leadership team stinks…

eric_MEDL — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 21:10:34 -0000

I think the best way to give bad news to an entrepreneur is to help them realize the truth themselves. If you really think they are incapable, paint a realistic scenario and ask them how they would solve it. If your hunch is true, then they probably won't be able to solve it. You could almost inundate them with these situations and they will then realize their unreadiness. Ask them to address these problems and then talk again.

btw, I'm entrepreneur and have a prototype. Apparently it's not enough. Investors are skeptical and reluctant to invest. They basically want me to start making money before they'll invest, at which point I wouldn't even need their money anymore. Well at least when I do reach that point, I'll be able to get a better valuation.

Re: The idea’s great, but the leadership team stinks…

john — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 17:51:50 -0000

Without question, say it bluntly and, if possible, figure out a solution. There is amazing talent out there. Match that up with a great idea, rather than pass. The past ten years, VC firms/angels invested in too many copycat companies. If they come across a great idea, they should grab it and build a team around it.

Re: The idea’s great, but the leadership team stinks…

alain94040 — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 16:03:37 -0000

Jeff,

This is a very important question. I have been through countless meetings with VCs and I suspect many times the VCs gave me a lame excuse instead of saying to my face that they had doubts about my capacity.

Here's how you should handle it: "interesting idea, but I think it would take some ex-VP from Facebook to really make it happen". You are giving me clear feedback that I am the problem, but also give me a way to work on it. If I did come back with stellar co-founders, you'd be interested, right?

Re: The idea’s great, but the leadership team stinks…

alain94040 — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 16:01:15 -0000

Really, don't worry about VCs stealing your idea.
99% of the time, they'll think your idea is completely stupid to begin with.
And even if they like it, they have better things to do than try to convince another CEO to adopt your idea and run with it.
Let's face it: you are pretty much the only one today who believes that your idea has any merit.
That being said, the day your idea becomes successful, everyone will start copying it. By then of course, it's all public since you will have launched.

Re: The idea’s great, but the leadership team stinks…

Cooper — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 01:33:05 -0000

Wow, how can the comments here be essentially 100% for the "be blunt and honest" option, yet the VC who wrote the article said "In the end, I often settle for a polite “it’s just not a fit for us” – but I often wonder if that’s the right approach."

If you often wondered if it was the right approach, don't you think you, and the rest of the VC community, could have figured this out some time ago, without the help of the blog commenters here? This particular characteristic of VCs (little feedback, often vague, and rarely useful) has irked me, as a serial entrepreneur, for as long as I've been talking to VCs. So why are VCs still so bad at honest, helpful feedback - and will these blog comments change anything?

Re: The idea’s great, but the leadership team stinks…

Charles — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 22:47:39 -0000

A mentor once told me, "If you're afraid someone is going to steal your idea... they will". To be frank, if your idea is so simple and so easy that someone can easily replicate it. Don't bother, if the VC doesn't steal it, that guy in Wisconsin/Idaho/Japan/China/India/Mars... he will steal it. Ideas by themselves are worth next to nothing, it is what YOU do with the idea that makes the difference.

Re: The idea’s great, but the leadership team stinks…

Amerloch — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 18:45:58 -0000

I would like to know. If the VC could bring in someone to fix the team and make the dream possible, it is time to get ego out of the way and the $$ coming in to make it happen. Tell me. If I cannot take the bluntness, then how can I take the number of times I will hear "No" when we are pitching the product to prospects.

Re: The idea’s great, but the leadership team stinks…

Brandon R Allen — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 10:31:37 -0000

If you are serious about being successful, you have to be able to accept some honest feedback and then take that feedback and implement it to improve your businesses standing in the eyes of the public.

Re: The idea’s great, but the leadership team stinks…

Craig P. — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 03:11:02 -0000

Entrepreneurs need to understand how they are viewed by investors with the experience and knowledge of what it takes to succeed. If the idea/product has merit, but the VC does not have confidence in the team, there will be no funding.
I would want to know honestly if it was me or the team which was the reason for the rejection. My response would be to ask for contacts in the industry the VC has worked with which would be a better fit to bring the product to market and work a deal from there. Gaining this experience and perspective could only enhance my future prospects.

Re: The idea’s great, but the leadership team stinks…

evl — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 20:16:44 -0000

This is a no-brainer. The company wants to get funded. If "team risk" is the major barrier to funding, the CEO will be grateful for the feedback - even if the "team" problem is the CEO! Otherwise the team could spin its wheels for months and still not get funded. Death is not preferable to a new CEO or other Founder.

Re: The idea’s great, but the leadership team stinks…

Tangentix — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 14:42:32 -0000

I posted on this issue, and how to interpret feedback from VC's a little while ago here: http://bit.ly/yLn1e
I've tried various approaches to providing feedback to entrepreneurs, but in general there's no great way to do it I know.

Re: The idea’s great, but the leadership team stinks…

Paul — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 13:34:19 -0000

I think you should say it as it is. I currently sit on both sides of the fence as an opportunist raising money for 2 startups and as head of digital at Angels Den. Honesty is the best policy. If you get it wrong within your 45 minute window it'll possibly help the entrepreneurs with their style - it could be their inability to communicate properly - for whatever reason.