Comments on: Does a VC’s brand matter?

By: Thoughts on Taking Venture Money « IA Venture Partners

Thoughts on Taking Venture Money « IA Venture Partners — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 17:12:50 +0000

[...] (highly intelligent and experienced) friend Chris Dixon just posted on the importance of VC brands. He makes many good points and you should read his perspective. But the issue Chris raises begs a [...]

By: dave kellogg

dave kellogg — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 06:12:49 +0000

Agree wholeheartedly with paragraph 2 — just as your boss “is” your company, your partner is your VC firm. Also agree that if you get money from the “right” firms it will make much easier to raise money and at better valuations later on.

Most importantly, however, I think you omit the point that some “brand” VC firms have *infrastructure* to help you — e.g., a site visit program where big CIO/CTOs visit the VC periodically and are shown a selection of the companies, little networks of CFOs or CMOs who meet, a people person who helps with recruiting, etc.

By: davekellogg

davekellogg — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 22:12:49 +0000

By: Does a VC’s brand matter? | Igniting Startups - nPost

Does a VC’s brand matter? | Igniting Startups - nPost — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 16:45:13 +0000

[...] From cdixon.org [...]

By: jeremystein

jeremystein — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 13:40:31 +0000

>>First, if you manage to raise money from a particular set of the top 5 or so firms, you are almost guaranteed to be able to raise money later at a higher valuation from other firms.

don't top tier firms generally get a better price than a second tier firm in an a round? so effectively you get a lower price followed by a higher price?

By: Stanley Gyoshev

Stanley Gyoshev — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 19:13:25 +0000

Your proposition sounds like common sense, …
But, can you help me get enough data to statistically test your proposition?

By: Another Take On VC ‘Brands’ « Adventure Capitalist

Another Take On VC ‘Brands’ « Adventure Capitalist — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 22:00:46 +0000

[...] a recent blog post, angel investor Chris Dixon posed the question of whether VC “brands” mattered any longer. He provided the context [...]

By: Information Arbitrage: Thoughts on Taking Venture Money

Information Arbitrage: Thoughts on Taking Venture Money — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 16:17:03 +0000

By: chris dixon

chris dixon — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 10:14:06 +0000

Employees could be impressed with brand name VCs without being “worshipping.” Some employees – especially junior ones – look to signals to help decide if its a credible startup since they don't have the experience to judge themselves. I would say if someone is a senior candidate is still looking for VC validation that would be more of an issue.

By: GeekMBA360

GeekMBA360 — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 03:36:03 +0000

"The other way a VC firm’s brand can help is by giving you credibility when recruiting employees. "

Is this a good thing? The really good employees join a start-up because they believe in the cause, and are willing to work their tail off to build something..

The "VC worshiping" employees don't really understand what makes a good start-up. They tend to follow the herd, and chase the next IPO.