The founder/startup/vc paradigm has a 90%+ failure rate. Why is that?
It's complex, a three-body problem of founder, community, and capital formation.
More founder resources: venture hackers, nfx, TWIST-- the more founders have their eyes opened to the asymmetric upside of building a tech startup.
More founders, more ill-suited founders who punk out and give up-- startups aren't actually that hard, but not everyone has the grit to stick it out.
Community formation around founders make it easier to gut it out and that's why YC, Pioneer, Angel List, Stripe, Founder U, and others have been successful. It's easier to build a startup with the support of mentors, batch-mates, and SAFE investors-- you get early adopters, true believers, boosters, a fan club, a family, warm intros, and snacks. Highly recommend everyone apply to YC, Founder U, PearX, Sequoia Arc, etc.
But this startup infra induces founder formation and some folks just aren't cut out to be founders.
Capital formation used to be moneybags backing whaling voyages to fill the boats with pre-candle combustible oils.
Used to be you need a ship, a crew, some sharp harpoons, and a backer to be a founder.
Now you need a laptop, an internet connection, and the four key founder traits: ambition, determination, optimism, and charisma.
You don't need VC, but everyone chases VC. Or they build an MVP What they really should be doing is building community around the problem they are solving. With traction, they'll get all the VC attention they want.
But every year instead of building an audience, then a community, then raising under RegCF and sharing the upside with everyone who helps them build. and grow, most founders come down with VC fever.
They polish decks. They practice pitches. They line up warm intros. And it works. They get funded. Why? Because Community-led success has driven an explosion of LP dollars to fund first time VCs, monster multi-stage funds like A16Z, and exited tech execs looking to cut seed checks (don't steal my rhymes, yo!).
But this generally only works for ingroup foundres-- right age (under 30), right degree (CS), right school (Stanford), right intros (see above on community).
For outgroup founders, there's SeedScout and similar warm intro platforms. Will it move the needle? Probably not. Why not? Because chasing VC is very mid and because most VCs are not good at picking founders. But if you are eager to get funded and you are an outsider and you feel like smarming it up with investors who get all their non-consensus ideas from the All-in Podcast, then SeedScout is a great option.
Matt Sherman is an outsider who has been punching and pandering his way into the corp VC world for a few years now. He's got connections and he wants to help founders meet VCs. Why not give his platform a try. You might just get lucky and meet the VC of your dreams.
Upvote this mofo to #1.
