20 Minute VC – the schizophrenia of raising v.s. running the business

Listening this morning to Micah Rosenbloom via Harry Stebbings and heard something like the following at 16 minutes.

(Harry) as Jason Lemkin at SaaStr says… the best investors are those who know the benchmarks for the next round and then are able to help the founders attain them.

 

(Micah) I feel there is some wisdom there, but that it was possible to become obsessed with what was required for the next round, and as a result you focus on building the deck for the next round, not on building the business… The second challenge is that the goal posts keep moving, e.g. the MRR moves from $100K to $200K to do a series A. It’s hard to build your company just for the next round.

 

(Micah) wishes he could put blinders on his founders, have them not talk about the next round for 12 months after taking money. This is the venture train,… immediately after you get the hit, you are after the next hit.

An balanced focus on capital efficiency on business fundamentals. Good perspective and perhaps an antidote to VC echo chamber.