Reading about how VCs are threatening to sue TheFunded.com to shut it up, I wondered:
- If you want something to go away, the worst thing you can do is take legal action: nothing adds more credibility to something that when you throw a $500/hour lawyer at it.
- If VCs don’t want a bad reputation, they should avoid doing bad things. Not all of them do bad things, some of them do… word would get out, one way or another… so if not on a centralized location like TheFunded.com (where they can access the info and see what is said about them) then it would be in back-channel places; trust me, that will hurt them more.
- Every thing about VCs boils down to control: control in a company, control in a fund, etc. VCs need control to be relevant (hence one reason they seek Preferred Shares and want veto on a number of things). I think they dislike the site in general but they hate the fact that they cannot control what is said about them on such a site.
- VCs have all of the power in the world thanks to their money. In other words, with enough investing power they will be able to mend bridges and get over anything one pissed-off entrepreneur will say. Smart entrepreneurs take the good, bad and ugly into account but they make their own conclusions, by throwing a fit, VCs are showing that they give entrepreneurs less credit than we deserve.
- All entrepreneurs work with and co-exist with other entrepreneurs, so we know that not everything that an entrepreneur says is 100% accurate, but not all entrepreneurs work or interact with VCs. So net-net, chances are that we will realize that some of the entrepreneurs’ feedback on TheFunded is not 100% accurate or at least, biased.
- Lastly, wouldn’t it be funny if VCs teamed up and started to give feedback on businesses and entrepreneurs… oh, wait, they already do!
Anyway, this seems like much ado about nothing… and I think net-net, TheFunded.com is something that VCs and entrepreneurs should welcome, after they take everything on the site with a grain of salt.
Read more on TheFunded:
- My 15 minutes with the Founder of TheFunded.com
- TheFunded Adds Term Sheet Info, All Hell Breaks Loose in VC-Land
Read more on VCs:
- Mistakes VCs Make
- Why do Entrepreneurs Accept Some VCs Draconian Terms?
- The Biggest Mistake VCs and Entrepreneurs Make: Hogs get Slaughtered
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