{"id":4176,"date":"2015-05-04T07:38:45","date_gmt":"2015-05-04T11:38:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.duck9.com\/?p=4176"},"modified":"2015-05-08T19:04:53","modified_gmt":"2015-05-08T23:04:53","slug":"why-vcs-used-to-fire-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.duck9.com\/blog\/why-vcs-used-to-fire-us\/","title":{"rendered":"Why VCs Used to Fire Us"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Larry Chiang&#8217;s bestselling book, &#8220;What They Don&#8217;t Teach You At Stanford Business School&#8221;, has an entire chapter devoted to &#8220;Failing Forward&#8221;. As EIR at Stanford University, he helps founders get fired less often by VCs. His work in credit receivables risk, coupled with getting college <a href=\"https:\/\/www.101secrets.com\/general-population-credit-knowledge.htm\" target=\"_blank\">consumers get a FICO<\/a> over 750, helps him mitigate entrepreneur risk. Post Harvard Law School keynote, Harvard Business wrote: \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.harbus.org\/2009\/What-They-Dont-Teach-4531\/\" target=\"_blank\">What They Don\u2019t Teach You at Stanford Business School<\/a>&#8220;. This post is about, &#8220;Why VCs Fire Founders&#8221;.<\/p>\n<table style=\"height: 155px;\" width=\"156\" cellpadding=\"10\" align=\"left\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"100\"><span class=\"embed-youtube\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/QXIaNZi3mHQ?version=3&amp;rel=1&amp;fs=1&amp;showsearch=0&amp;showinfo=1&amp;iv_load_policy=1&amp;wmode=transparent\" width=\"260\" height=\"183\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/span><br \/>\nNY Fashion Week has supermodels getting a high FICO credit score because I supermodel on-the-side<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"https:\/\/bit.ly\/buster14512w\">https:\/\/bit.ly\/buster14512w<\/a><\/p>\n<div>\n<div>By Larry Chiang<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Problem: VCs fire us founders.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>I have notoriously been anti VC. ReverseVC was where I made VCs pay to pitch. But perhaps VCs should fire some founders who can&#8217;t get sales.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Plot spoiler: if you outsource selling and \/ or hire a vp of sales to sell for you, the likelihood of YOU getting fired TRIPLES. Both me and Steve Blank pattern recognize the fact that technical co-founders get fired because they refuse to sell or\/and can&#8217;t sell&#8230;<\/p>\n<table style=\"border: 1px solid black; padding: 8px;\">\n<tbody>\n<tr valign=\"bottom\">\n<td width=\"48\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"width: 48px; height: 48px; padding-right: 8px;\" src=\"https:\/\/pbs.twimg.com\/profile_images\/3411684931\/bd26194fa93733b624ec22966dbdb9d9_normal.jpeg\" alt=\"\" \/><\/td>\n<td><b>Larry Chiang (<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/larrychiang?refsrc=email&amp;s=11\">@LarryChiang<\/a>)<\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td colspan=\"2\">\n<div><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/larrychiang\/status\/594903095705874432?refsrc=email&amp;s=11\">5\/3\/15, 12:35 PM<\/a><\/div>\n<div>VCs fire us bc the vp sales ain&#8217;t working out. It&#8217;s the &#8220;Startup Death Spiral&#8221; as per <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/W0znqb3mB8\">bit.ly\/sblank713<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/search?q=%23CTCFTR&amp;src=hash\">#CTCFTR<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/nkCvaZOHgt\">pic.twitter.com\/nkCvaZOHgt<\/a><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>Professor Steve Blank wrote about &#8220;Customer Development Manifesto&#8221; based on his book &#8216;4 Steps to the Epiphany&#8217;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div><a href=\"https:\/\/bit.ly\/sblank710\">https:\/\/bit.ly\/sblank710<\/a><\/div>\n<div><a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/xCsdHxGsnX\">bit.ly\/sblank711<\/a><\/div>\n<div><a href=\"https:\/\/bit.ly\/sblank712\">https:\/\/bit.ly\/sblank712<\/a><\/div>\n<div><a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/W0znqb3mB8\">bit.ly\/sblank713<\/a><\/div>\n<div><a href=\"https:\/\/bit.ly\/vc0311b\">https:\/\/bit.ly\/vc0311b<\/a><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><img decoding=\"async\" id=\"8E1BFA64-60E2-48DE-B743-ECD010E69363\" src=\"https:\/\/www.duck9.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/image16.jpeg\" alt=\"image.jpeg\" \/><\/div>\n<div>\n<table style=\"border: 1px solid black; padding: 8px;\">\n<tbody>\n<tr valign=\"bottom\">\n<td width=\"48\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"width: 48px; height: 48px; padding-right: 8px;\" src=\"https:\/\/pbs.twimg.com\/profile_images\/3411684931\/bd26194fa93733b624ec22966dbdb9d9_normal.jpeg\" alt=\"\" \/><\/td>\n<td><b>Larry Chiang (<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/larrychiang?refsrc=email&amp;s=11\">@LarryChiang<\/a>)<\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td colspan=\"2\">\n<div><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/larrychiang\/status\/594911144596279297?refsrc=email&amp;s=11\">5\/3\/15, 1:07 PM<\/a><\/div>\n<div>Go do &#8216;cust dev cycle&#8217; is like saying to 1776 infantry\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/front\">@front<\/a>\u00a0lines:<br \/>\n&#8220;Volunteer, meet your rifle for 1st time.&#8221;\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/5LeNXq04MU\">pic.twitter.com\/5LeNXq04MU<\/a><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>SOLUTION:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>Instead, as CS major co-founders, pop your deal and sales cherry by doing customer development cycle in region #2 (where the mainstream market is)<br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" id=\"547B38ED-87F6-4488-A1D4-CFC713183EC6\" src=\"https:\/\/www.duck9.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/image17.jpeg\" alt=\"image.jpeg\" \/><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Yes, you&#8217;re going to have to sell.<\/div>\n<div><img decoding=\"async\" id=\"4F76D413-FC4F-46B3-B786-654E05DD726E\" src=\"https:\/\/www.duck9.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/image18.jpeg\" alt=\"image.jpeg\" \/><\/div>\n<div>This area is where you focus on a vertical in an existing market.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Let&#8217;s get a foothold in the market<\/div>\n<div><img decoding=\"async\" id=\"3A9C4B29-D2FA-4D32-968B-EB5FA5051528\" src=\"https:\/\/www.duck9.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/image19.jpeg\" alt=\"image.jpeg\" \/><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Solution is &#8220;Part V&#8221; aka the Fifth Epiphany\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/bit.ly\/vc0311b\">https:\/\/bit.ly\/vc0311b<\/a><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>SOLUTION IS:<\/div>\n<div>\n<table style=\"border: 1px solid black; padding: 8px;\">\n<tbody>\n<tr valign=\"bottom\">\n<td width=\"48\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"width: 48px; height: 48px; padding-right: 8px;\" src=\"https:\/\/pbs.twimg.com\/profile_images\/3411684931\/bd26194fa93733b624ec22966dbdb9d9_normal.jpeg\" alt=\"\" \/><\/td>\n<td><b>Larry Chiang (<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/larrychiang?refsrc=email&amp;s=11\">@LarryChiang<\/a>)<\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td colspan=\"2\">\n<div><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/larrychiang\/status\/595059053354618880?refsrc=email&amp;s=11\">5\/3\/15, 10:55 PM<\/a><\/div>\n<div>Part 5<br \/>\n(Part V) part 3 = startup death spiral in &#8216;Customer Dev Manifesto&#8217;\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/search?q=%23csMajorCRO&amp;src=hash\">#csMajorCRO<\/a>\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/9FF7JGwivJ\">pic.twitter.com\/9FF7JGwivJ<\/a><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>Solution to female founders like Sandy Lerner not getting fired by Sequoia is&#8230;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<table style=\"border: 1px solid black; padding: 8px;\">\n<tbody>\n<tr valign=\"bottom\">\n<td width=\"48\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"width: 48px; height: 48px; padding-right: 8px;\" src=\"https:\/\/pbs.twimg.com\/profile_images\/3411684931\/bd26194fa93733b624ec22966dbdb9d9_normal.jpeg\" alt=\"\" \/><\/td>\n<td><b>Larry Chiang (<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/larrychiang?refsrc=email&amp;s=11\">@LarryChiang<\/a>)<\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td colspan=\"2\">\n<div><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/larrychiang\/status\/595061340927954944?refsrc=email&amp;s=11\">5\/3\/15, 11:04 PM<\/a><\/div>\n<div>Part V =\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/search?q=%23csMajorCRO&amp;src=hash\">#csMajorCRO<\/a>\u00a0(part 1 of 5 = &#8216;Customer Dev Manifesto&#8217;\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/xCsdHxGsnX\">bit.ly\/sblank711<\/a>)\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/D5zDmYhnU7\">pic.twitter.com\/D5zDmYhnU7<\/a><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>Engineering 145 had a segment on sales. See video <a href=\"https:\/\/bit.ly\/buster14512v\">https:\/\/bit.ly\/buster14512v<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<table style=\"border: 1px solid black; padding: 8px;\">\n<tbody>\n<tr valign=\"bottom\">\n<td width=\"48\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"width: 48px; height: 48px; padding-right: 8px;\" src=\"https:\/\/pbs.twimg.com\/profile_images\/3411684931\/bd26194fa93733b624ec22966dbdb9d9_normal.jpeg\" alt=\"\" \/><\/td>\n<td><b>Larry Chiang (<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/larrychiang?refsrc=email&amp;s=11\">@LarryChiang<\/a>)<\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td colspan=\"2\">\n<div><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/larrychiang\/status\/594905551370256385?refsrc=email&amp;s=11\">5\/3\/15, 12:45 PM<\/a><\/div>\n<div>In short, you&#8217;re sending founders to a premie startup death (VCs firing us). Instead do an\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/search?q=%23LCMCC&amp;src=hash\">#LCMCC<\/a>! cc\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/search?q=%23CTCFTR&amp;src=hash\">#CTCFTR<\/a>\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/5FxajaJad7\">pic.twitter.com\/5FxajaJad7<\/a><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>This is a screen shot of LCMCC as it pertains to Why VCs fired us from the engr 145 video <a href=\"https:\/\/bit.ly\/buster14512w\">https:\/\/bit.ly\/buster14512w<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div><img decoding=\"async\" id=\"0DAC06F4-B391-40FD-A338-3A1C335155E5\" src=\"https:\/\/www.duck9.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/image20.jpeg\" alt=\"image.jpeg\" \/><\/p>\n<table style=\"border: 1px solid black; padding: 8px;\">\n<tbody>\n<tr valign=\"bottom\">\n<td width=\"48\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"width: 48px; height: 48px; padding-right: 8px;\" src=\"https:\/\/pbs.twimg.com\/profile_images\/3411684931\/bd26194fa93733b624ec22966dbdb9d9_normal.jpeg\" alt=\"\" \/><\/td>\n<td><b>Larry Chiang (<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/larrychiang?refsrc=email&amp;s=11\">@LarryChiang<\/a>)<\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td colspan=\"2\">\n<div><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/larrychiang\/status\/594904502462914560?refsrc=email&amp;s=11\">5\/3\/15, 12:41 PM<\/a><\/div>\n<div>How did\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/billclerico\">@billclerico<\/a>, YC 09, &#8220;do things that don&#8217;t scale&#8221;!? He unconscious competently did\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/search?q=%23WTDoTYASES&amp;src=hash\">#WTDoTYASES<\/a>\u00a0(aka\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/search?q=%23cs183s&amp;src=hash\">#cs183s<\/a>!)\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/Ykxbq1wjJn\">pic.twitter.com\/Ykxbq1wjJn<\/a><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div><img decoding=\"async\" id=\"9040AAC9-D66B-444A-9C20-D243A7F9F359\" src=\"https:\/\/www.duck9.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/image21.jpeg\" alt=\"image.jpeg\" \/><\/div>\n<div>CS 183s is when I forked CS 183b. CS 183s is where I curate things that are under the business subroutine: &#8220;Do things that don&#8217;t scale&#8221;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><img decoding=\"async\" id=\"EE89246B-38D4-42E8-8FDA-14A663106DCF\" src=\"https:\/\/www.duck9.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/image22.jpeg\" alt=\"image.jpeg\" \/><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><a href=\"https:\/\/bit.ly\/buster14512v\">https:\/\/bit.ly\/buster14512v<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Larry Chiang&#8217;s bestselling book, &#8220;What They Don&#8217;t Teach You At Stanford Business School&#8221;, has an entire chapter devoted to &#8220;Failing Forward&#8221;. As EIR at Stanford University, he helps founders get fired less often by VCs. His work in credit receivables risk, coupled with getting college consumers get a FICO over 750, helps him mitigate entrepreneur [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4176","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-stanford-entrepreneurship"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.duck9.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4176","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.duck9.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.duck9.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.duck9.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.duck9.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4176"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.duck9.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4176\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.duck9.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4176"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.duck9.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4176"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.duck9.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4176"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}