The title is a complete lie and has essentially nothing to do with the content of the article.
The app allows you to book appointments with specific people who claim significant expertise. The article does not suggest that VCs are asking founders for a fee to present their pitch.
Ah, the delightful Nikita Bier is featured as a success story using this tool. I was in a business incubator with this guy, he was the biggest scammer I have ever met. He took hundreds of thousands of money from the Knight Foundation for a business he never planned to build. Scrapped the company, then sold a bunch of addictive teen apps to Facebook
I think this is great. I've recently been able to make use of a random other network and had a few 30m calls that have been pure, absolute value. Being able to pay for access is better than simply not having any access whatsoever.
The idea behind the site was to allow founders to approach the VCs with any question not just to pitch or network. For example, I was planning to use it to ask for guidance on a go to market issue.
I actually think sites like this are a great way for people to get expert advice that normally are only available to the experienced or well connected. Be nice if the people were doing it for altruism and not making money on it.
We've thought about the idea of offering interviews to anyone who wants one at cost (so even if we couldn't get you a job, you could come take our interview, get feedback, and we could post about you publicly [with consent] if you did well and wanted the signal boost). Feels like kind of the same type of thing.
In general I find it kind of hard to criticize any offering isomorphic to "we weren't offering this thing before and now we are, here's what it costs". At worst you just...don't pay for it.
In particular, the article opens with:
> Silicon Valley has long run on an ethos of pay-it-forward generosity, where people connect friends or acquaintances to others in their network who might be able to offer advice.
which is just another way to say "hope you're in the club, because you're not going to get into it if you aren't". Surely offering the ability to buy some access to the club is better than just having it all based on personal networks.
Readit News
The app allows you to book appointments with specific people who claim significant expertise. The article does not suggest that VCs are asking founders for a fee to present their pitch.
A more accurate title would have been "Some VCs..." though it has become standard practice in journalism to omit a leading "Some."
Maybe "App charges founders $2500 for VC meetings"?
- Knight Foundation invested $120,000 as a convertible note
- They received 2.75x return on their investment
- The entity stayed the same between pivots: the company was never "scrapped"
The idea behind the site was to allow founders to approach the VCs with any question not just to pitch or network. For example, I was planning to use it to ask for guidance on a go to market issue.
I actually think sites like this are a great way for people to get expert advice that normally are only available to the experienced or well connected. Be nice if the people were doing it for altruism and not making money on it.
In general I find it kind of hard to criticize any offering isomorphic to "we weren't offering this thing before and now we are, here's what it costs". At worst you just...don't pay for it.
In particular, the article opens with:
> Silicon Valley has long run on an ethos of pay-it-forward generosity, where people connect friends or acquaintances to others in their network who might be able to offer advice.
which is just another way to say "hope you're in the club, because you're not going to get into it if you aren't". Surely offering the ability to buy some access to the club is better than just having it all based on personal networks.
Deleted Comment
https://www.occ.gov/topics/consumers-and-communities/consume...
The well known people are likely to exit such a rogues gallery fairly quickly.