startups are basketball.
soccer and basketball are conceptually similar. both involve teams of players dribbling, passing, and shooting into goals. both require agility, teamwork, and endurance to succeed.
yet they differ in key dimensions to the point where no one assumes skill in one translates to the other.
similarly, investing and entrepreneurship share much in common but diverge in key areas. two cardinal rules of investing are: (1) diversify and (2) don't lose money. in entrepreneurship, these are cardinal sins. because of limited resources, startups fail when their bets aren't concentrated. startups also fail when prematurely optimizing costs because innovation is inherently wasteful.
to be clear, many VCs offer immense value and are instrumental to startup success. most are extremely intelligent and business savvy. the best ones adopt advisory roles, not managerial ones, providing insights and guidance that alter company trajectories, recognizing that it is your vision and drive, not their capital, that produces lucrative exits and world-changing companies.
if you have an opportunity to partner with talented and trustworthy VCs, strongly consider the option.
the simplest heuristic for evaluating VCs is this: if you removed capital from the equation, would you still hire them as your boss?