Bryan Cantrill

"The best way to move the game forward is to listen to our fans and make changes that are responsive to the issues that they see in the game.’’

I was talking to a YC partner about how well all the hard tech startups are doing. He said investors are hot to fund them because they're afraid AI will eat all software. I'm glad hardware startups are getting funded, but this is a mistake. Good founders are what wins.

over the past few days people have been sharing stories about their awful interactions with VCs. Here is a roundup of the most hilarious, embarrassing, bizarre, and backstabbing stories 🧵👇

Oh, is this what we're doing now? Because we have some tales, including the firm that preempted our Series A, walked away from a signed term sheet (!) -- and then came back four years later asking for a reference (!!)

One more I forgot until just reminded: 3. Khosla Ventures wanted to invest in our Series C. Vinod took me, Michelle, and Lee out to dinner after he’d given us a term sheet. Near the end, Michelle and Lee got up to use the restroom. Vinod leaned over and said: “I’m impressed with you, not so much with them, what if you fire them and I’ll give you all their stock?” I think the charitable read was it was a test of my character. But I was so offended that we never spoke again. Literally blocked his number.

I was once pitching in a board room at a top 3 VC firm for a $15M Series A. 12 people in the meeting. One of the GPs fully fell asleep. Out cold for 30+ minutes. Nobody acknowledged it. Everyone just kept going. I kept presenting my Series A slides to an unconscious man in a Herman Miller chair and somehow that was considered normal. That's venture capital. You might fly across the country to perform for people who may or may not be conscious. It's a dance. And sometimes you lead and sometimes you follow and sometimes your partner is unconscious. If you're raising right now, just know: every founder has a story like this. The process is weird. The power dynamic is weird. You're not crazy for thinking it's weird. No one talks about it because they want to continue raising. But I'm happy to stick my neck out there. It is weird.