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Comment by jamesshamenski | Hacker News Reader

Boo the VC's in this one!

The investors of BootupLabs did not have confidence in 57% of their latest pool of startups. i wonder why they invested at all if they dont fully back their judgement?

Here's what probably happened, I bet the investors squeezed Boris and Danny with the alternative option being closing their doors early on all 7 companies. Sometimes VC's do evil things to extract more ownership in last minute negotiations (knowing very well that BuL was out of cash). I bet Boris and Danny would have wanted to follow through.

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I can't speak for every investor in this incubator but Boris Wertz of W Media Ventures has money in my own startup and I've always found him to be an upstanding, helpful guy - First Round Capital introduced him to me and I've always been grateful for that. I wouldn't particularly call Boris a VC, though - more of a large angel, investing the money he made from the startup he founded himself.

It's a bad idea to slight individuals you don't know anything about just because you think they belong to a generic 'VC' category.

A lower tide sinks all boats.

I hear you when you say it's bad to slight individuals you don't know anything about. I am very familiar with Boris Wertz (through multiple friends of friends) and the good he has done for the small Vancouver tech scene. However, this is a massive blow in the effort to encourage tech companies to establish a presence in Vancouver (effecting the Vancouver VC recruiting pool). Some other city will be drinking Vancouver's Milkshake.

This might be a valid assertion if there were any VCs investing in Bootup Labs. There evidently aren't.

Evidently, the VC's investing in BootupLabs are 'W media ventures' and 'growthworks'. http://blog.bootuplabs.com/2010/04/14/wertz-joins-board-firs...

growthworks has one of the lowest rates of return of venture funds,

Right! And where is the investment support from all the big name, successful mentors?? Guess they're either free-riders or store window dressing...

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