Here’s something we’re not used to hearing from VCs, and a great shot across the bow to entrepreneurs who doubt themselves (and let’s be honest, we all do at some point). Care of Marc Andreesen:
There is this theory in venture capital that you want to back coachable entrepreneurs. But the entrepreneurs who have really radical ideas are not only not coachable, but they generally react with hostility to being coached. One of the things we test for is – we say, “Have you thought about doing this the other way?” What we are not looking for is them say, “Oh, that’s a great idea!” What we are looking for is a stare, “You idiot. You moron. You’ve been sitting here, listening to me for 20 minutes and I’ve been working on this for 5 years and you think you understand this so well that you can make me a suggestion. And not only you’re an idiot for thinking you can do that, but now I explain you in detail why you’re that big of an idiot”. We love those! Those are fantastic!
Dave Marcello 