Comments on Sarah Tavel / Adventurista: "No offense, but you are an 'Analyst'."

Next time someone tells you that, respond, "well y...

2007-06-22T20:11:00.000-04:00

Next time someone tells you that, respond, "well you are an anal-fist!"

Even thinking the statement he made, let alone conveying it to you, exposes a complete lack of judgment on several key levels that is never going to result in success.

You're so much nicer to your commenters than I am....

2007-06-21T17:27:00.000-04:00

You're so much nicer to your commenters than I am... personal responses, wow. :)

I always felt like an entrepreneur who acts this way towards analysts probably acts this way towards the incremental individual user and to partners and to just about everyone else in their life, in some fashion, and isn't the kind of person we wanted to invest in.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record....
2007-06-18T17:46:00.000-04:00
At the risk of sounding like a broken record....

Mike, Thank you for your comment! I appreciate your perspective. Hope things at HitTail are going well...

st

I'm so new to this game, and am flattered each tim...

2007-06-18T14:40:00.000-04:00

I'm so new to this game, and am flattered each time someone from a VC operation gives me the time of day. The time I met you at the Red Herring Union League event in NYC, I noticed a related effect: companies working the VCs like sharks, basically blowing off anyone who wasn't with a VC firm they recognized (a particular person).

Last week, I was at the iBreakfast's Web 2.0 NY event and noticed the exact same person doing the exact same thing. Now, I know that if you're trying to raise money, some people can obviously help you, and some people are unlikely to be able to do so. But to project that blowing-you-off attitude so freely can only result in acquiring a bozo reputation that's bound to catch up with them.

Hey Harsh,

Thanks for the comment! Nice to...

2007-06-18T09:54:00.000-04:00

Hey Harsh,

Thanks for the comment! Nice to hear from you.

Just to clarify - I wasn't feeling bad for myself/ourselves at all. 99.5% of CEOs I speak to are gracious and open to conversation. What I wondered outloud was whether there is anything to learn from that small 0.05%.

And I did catch that link you mentioned from Valleywag. Thanks for mentioning it. To say the least, I got a kick out of it.

Thanks for the insight into the struggles one face...

2007-06-18T02:26:00.000-04:00

Thanks for the insight into the struggles one faces as an analyst.

_____________________
Re: Contempt

Did you catch this on ValleyWag?

http://www.nowpublic.com/don_t_be_a_dude_yamaha_a_gripping_story_of_life_and_death_in_silicon_valley

Erik, Thank you for the comment. I think that's ...

2007-06-17T14:30:00.000-04:00

Erik, Thank you for the comment. I think that's a good way to think about Analysts/Associates, although I think there are different gradients to "trusted." (i.e., I think Analysts/Associates are a degree closer than an intro from someone outside the firm.)

Mukund,

Thank you also for the comment. I can understand where you are coming from, but I think it is important to note that there are, broadly, two kinds of Analysts / Analyst Programs. There are those that think that the job is just a numbers game. Because that is the perceived strategy of the program, those Analysts easily confuse busy with purpose. Then, there are those Analysts / Analyst Programs that believe that sourcing is not quantity by quality. At Bessemer, we strive to be part of the second group. This is driven significantly by Bessemer's roadmap philosophy. Whereas Analysts in other programs might sandwich a call with a consumer internet company between calls with a mattress company and a restaurant franchise, we rarely call companies in spaces that we have not already identified as interesting. And because of this, we are usually smarter about which companies we reach out to. I think this helps us be more effective with our time, and try our best not to waste the time of the busy entrepreneurs with whom we speak.

Thanks again for the comments,
Sarah

What I have heard is more often than not "Analysts...

2007-06-17T12:37:00.000-04:00

What I have heard is more often than not "Analysts" are people who confuse activity with progress towards the goal. So they try to fill up their days with meetings back to back with really no purpose, except to show they are busy.

Its nothing against analysts, but most entrepreneurs are busy people also and would rather not waste time pitching someone that is just fishing for appointments.

Some people...

Can an analyst/associate say...

2007-06-17T11:02:00.000-04:00

Some people...

Can an analyst/associate say yes to an investment? No they can't. They don't even get to vote.

But they can say no. They can tell the partner the founding team is made up of bozos. They can torpedo you in any number of ways.

Rather than thinking of analyst/associates as investors I like to think of them as the last person in an introduction chain. They are trusted colleagues of the partners. They have the ear of the partners.