When I first learned who Dave McClure was and saw his flippant attitude and penchant for profanity, I was not a fan. I thought he seemed extremely unprofessional and was making other startup founders look bad. But over time as I learned more about him, I've definitely softened on him and now greatly respect him, for the following reasons:
First off, he's incredibly open about the fact that he could never fit in at a normal corporation due to his "eccentric ways", and by doing so empowers others who are going through the same thing. He doesn't necessarily encourage others to be like him, but he does (implicitly) encourage people to "Be Yourself" and to not be afraid to acknowledge that you may be different from the people around you and if so find a way of life that suits you better.
And most importantly, he has only the best of intentions - He truly wants young, up-and-coming founders to succeed and not have to go through the bullshit that he had to go through, and that seems to be his driving force in life.
Dave McClure naturally creates a certain type of culture in everything he does by way of his unique personality. If you don't like it that's cool, but in the big picture I think it's a good thing and makes Silicon Valley a more diverse and interesting community.
The would-be pitcher said, "May I pitch you?" "Sure, in 15 min." Then during that 15 min in an interview that the would-be pitcher had no way to follow, Dave McClure said not to pitch him. Then he came back to listen to the pitch and it went horribly because Dave didn't want to be pitched.
If so then the fault here is all Dave's. If you don't want to be pitched, say so up front. If you said that you're willing to be pitched, show up for it mentally.
No, it went horribly because Dave listened and they were invited for a follow-up. Sounds like it went pretty well.
The starstruck tone of the article is a little embarrassing, but hey, Dave's pretty awesome.
It's not so much that Dave can't be pitched. He is trying to intelligently route pitching traffic through his expertise network, and you are probably wasting his time and not being diligent and respectful if you don't follow that advice.
People are people and everyone has their flaws. Idols and Celebrities are first idealized, then put under a microscope. Then we complain when they act like mere mortals.
Personally, I like having people who say exactly what they think in prominent position in the tech world. The more they anger people, the better. What a boring world it would be if nobody ever said anything for fear of offending.
That's ad hominem and unnecessary and downright offensive. You should judge Dave McClure on his acts as an investor or advisor. HackerNews is meant to be a constructive forum, and this comment was anything but.
Pitch by not pitching, seriously some of the best advice anyone could give a startup. I too get very sick of pitches when really all i want to do is meet smart people, if they turn out to be interesting, then lets hear the pitch.....but dont start with it!
I learned this lesson the hard way. It's amazing how much more interest you can garner just by treating the other person like a human being rather than a means to an end. Unfortunately, it is easy for a startup founder to fall into this trap.
On the "reading the bubble tea leaves" front: what does it say about the startup world when even full time investors are sick of being pitched?
I'm watching this all from the outside, in a stable salaried job outside the bay area. But it just feels like the end of a road -- the community is eating itself. Making stuff people want is a distant memory at this point.
The reason Dave McClure is sick of being pitched is not because he's jaded or tired of doing what he does.
It's because it's not humanly possible for a single investor, be it Dave McClure or a YC partner, to process the sheer volume of pitches that come their way. There needs to be some sort of filtering mechanism, and endorsements/recommendations are one way of doing that.
As Dave mentioned in the video embedded in the article, he WILL give his full attention to a founder IF they have already met with 500 Startups portfolio companies (i.e. people he trusts and respects) and proven to them that they are legit.
People like Dave McClure (and pg) have thousands of people vying for his extremely limited time, and so giving his full attention to every pitch that comes his way would be a huge disservice to the other startups that actually deserve it i.e. have actually done their homework, put time in to prove themselves, and committed to forming long-term relationships with people in his community vs. those looking for a quick and easy shortcut to funding and networking.
That's a superficial view of the state of affairs.
Of course that the offer (pitches) will always be greater by several orders of magnitude than the demand (investor money). A natural consequence of that is that investors are sick of being pitched everywhere they go.
But for investors, is it better to have too many pitches, or not enough?
Don't worry, there are still plenty of people shipping shit that people want :)
I think Mark Suster has a similar mindset (with similar bluntless albeit not as hard-hitting perhaps) -- there's no way he can hear everyone pitch or have a coffee with every startuper, but if you take the time to get an intro through a well-trusted contact that will move you further down the "conversion funnel" to getting a meeting. Sure Dave McClure or Mark Suster or any other investor might be right in front of you, but you also don't want to reek of desperation when you make your move.
Speaking of wrong place/wrong time, was funny how a well known investor recently asked in a bathroom during an intermission for evaluations of companies :). That violates bathroom rules I think!
Random observation, the embedded youtube video is sized in such a way to clip off the controls that let you full screen it or watch it on youtube or change resolution. I don't know if that is intentional or not but its annoying on a smaller screen device that its not easily zoomable to full screen.
[+] [-] pshin45|13 years ago|reply
First off, he's incredibly open about the fact that he could never fit in at a normal corporation due to his "eccentric ways", and by doing so empowers others who are going through the same thing. He doesn't necessarily encourage others to be like him, but he does (implicitly) encourage people to "Be Yourself" and to not be afraid to acknowledge that you may be different from the people around you and if so find a way of life that suits you better.
And most importantly, he has only the best of intentions - He truly wants young, up-and-coming founders to succeed and not have to go through the bullshit that he had to go through, and that seems to be his driving force in life.
Dave McClure naturally creates a certain type of culture in everything he does by way of his unique personality. If you don't like it that's cool, but in the big picture I think it's a good thing and makes Silicon Valley a more diverse and interesting community.
[+] [-] btilly|13 years ago|reply
The would-be pitcher said, "May I pitch you?" "Sure, in 15 min." Then during that 15 min in an interview that the would-be pitcher had no way to follow, Dave McClure said not to pitch him. Then he came back to listen to the pitch and it went horribly because Dave didn't want to be pitched.
If so then the fault here is all Dave's. If you don't want to be pitched, say so up front. If you said that you're willing to be pitched, show up for it mentally.
[+] [-] aneth4|13 years ago|reply
The starstruck tone of the article is a little embarrassing, but hey, Dave's pretty awesome.
It's not so much that Dave can't be pitched. He is trying to intelligently route pitching traffic through his expertise network, and you are probably wasting his time and not being diligent and respectful if you don't follow that advice.
[+] [-] yannk|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] brm|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] __--__|13 years ago|reply
Personally, I like having people who say exactly what they think in prominent position in the tech world. The more they anger people, the better. What a boring world it would be if nobody ever said anything for fear of offending.
[+] [-] ghayes|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] cmbaus|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ryguytilidie|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mtreder|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] kosei|13 years ago|reply
Hilarious quote, but also incredibly honest. Great stuff.
[+] [-] mtreder|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] verelo|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] guptaneil|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ajross|13 years ago|reply
I'm watching this all from the outside, in a stable salaried job outside the bay area. But it just feels like the end of a road -- the community is eating itself. Making stuff people want is a distant memory at this point.
[+] [-] pshin45|13 years ago|reply
It's because it's not humanly possible for a single investor, be it Dave McClure or a YC partner, to process the sheer volume of pitches that come their way. There needs to be some sort of filtering mechanism, and endorsements/recommendations are one way of doing that.
As Dave mentioned in the video embedded in the article, he WILL give his full attention to a founder IF they have already met with 500 Startups portfolio companies (i.e. people he trusts and respects) and proven to them that they are legit.
People like Dave McClure (and pg) have thousands of people vying for his extremely limited time, and so giving his full attention to every pitch that comes his way would be a huge disservice to the other startups that actually deserve it i.e. have actually done their homework, put time in to prove themselves, and committed to forming long-term relationships with people in his community vs. those looking for a quick and easy shortcut to funding and networking.
[+] [-] GuiA|13 years ago|reply
Of course that the offer (pitches) will always be greater by several orders of magnitude than the demand (investor money). A natural consequence of that is that investors are sick of being pitched everywhere they go.
But for investors, is it better to have too many pitches, or not enough?
Don't worry, there are still plenty of people shipping shit that people want :)
[+] [-] yesimahuman|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jonathanjaeger|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] rdl|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] curiousDog|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mtreder|13 years ago|reply
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[+] [-] ChuckMcM|13 years ago|reply
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[+] [-] revth|13 years ago|reply
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[+] [-] drivebyacct2|13 years ago|reply