kayovin1

So many investors are now speaking out against AI-generated decks. PG in particular calls using AI “like being lied to.” Sarah Guo recently went viral for saying AI decks “smell like total lack of thought.” How are you all using Claude while ensuring you don't get thrown into the naughty corner?

Venture backed founders need to know when to tell VCs to fuck off and just run their businesses properly.

Raise >> scale >> raise cycle is toxic and can't go on forever.

It's irresponsible to shut down a business like this when there are options

The single biggest problem I faced running a startup and have seen lots of venture-backed founders face is running out of money and shutting down.

In the US, as low as 30% of startups are able to raise Series A after a Seed round. The graduation from Series A to Series B is equally abysmal.

My issue is that VCs don't prepare founders for this situation, for them it's all keep growing, keep scaling. If you can't then shut down.

So you see lots of good businesses, revenue-generating, growing steadily but still not enough to stay alive on the venture path.

Are there any investors that actually help their portfolio companies when things aren't going so well?

You're welcome

Author here. Key points:

• Why fund math and milestone pressure create zombie companies.

• Signals you’re default-dead vs default-alive.

• A step-by-step pivot framework for teams where the VC path isn’t working.

Interested in experiences from both founders and VCs, especially places this reasoning breaks.

Last week I helped run a closed session “M&A readiness - understanding the buyer mindset” roundtable in London for a founder community.

Sharing the main lessons here as they could be helpful for founders starting to think of exits.

1) Own your objective: know if you want liquidity, scale, or a pure hand-off before you talk to buyers.

2) Overlap is everything: deals happen only when a startup solves a pressing problem for the acquirer.

3) Value > revenue: tech, talent, and time-to-market often outweigh today’s P&L.

4) Org vs individual: people with promotions on the line can swing a deal more than the strategy deck.

5) Buy vs build math: E.g: Strava bought Runna because ready users beat a 12+ month build. Speed & customer adoption matter.

6) Top - down and bottoms - up: win a senior sponsor, then get the operators excited (or vice-versa).

7) Value x Visibility = Valuation: build something worth buying and make sure the right people see your value.

Full notes are in the post (7-min read).

Curious to hear HN’s experiences: Which of these resonates based on your experience?

Happy to dig into questions on buyer psychology, buy-vs-build decisions, or anything else.

Great to hear about your company Bruce

We will see stories like this appreciated more than VC-backed startups as it's simply more sustainable and impactful

It's interesting you say there are hardly any startups grounded in reality.

Tbf, it's really hard to build a capital efficient, scalable company