How to Choose a VC?: Fred Wilson and the Pixies, and Human Tendencies

Here’s the sad thing about humans, we like people who appear similar to us even superficially. It’s probably hard-wired from the prehistoric days when we roved around in ten person packs and killed anyone who was a stranger. Fun times. (If you want more insight into pack mentality, read the early chapters of Jared Diamond’s Guns, Germs, and Steel. )

Thus, I like Fred Wilson. Why? Because he’s as passionate about the Pixies as I am. I’ve never met the guy and yet I’d be happy to do business with him, because he has excellent taste in music.

Which is stupid of me. I mean, when you’re evaluating a potential business partner, someone who could easily mean the difference between the success and failure of your company, music taste shouldn’t enter into the equation.

Now, obviously Fred has been very successful. By all measures, he appears to be a good guy with whom to do business. But the reason I’d choose him over another VC isn’t his track record, it’s because he grooves on “Brick is Red”.

I think this is human nature and while I’m not proud to make business decisions based on musical compatibility (now there’s an interesting use for iLike), it absolutely influences my relationships with people...just like it did in high school.

Maybe if all VCs and entrepreneurs exchanged a list of their top ten favorite artists as part of the due diligence process, we’d all end up with better business partners.

So here’s mine, as of today, in no particular order:

1. Pixies
2. Weezer
3. The Smiths
4. Joy Division/New Order (yes, I’m cheating)
5. The Magnetic Fields
6. Barcelona
7. The Clash
8. Belle and Sebastian
   
9. My Life with Thrill Kill Kult
10. Curtis Mayfield

I doubt I'll have a hard time convincing Fred to post his favorites.

UPDATE: I was right, it wasn't hard. Fred responded within a minute of me posting this. Check the comments to see his top ten list. And after looking over Fred's list, I realized I forgot Belle and Sebastian. I updated my list appropriately.

Lost Post: Who In Their Right Minds Would Start a Startup?

This is the first of a series of lost posts that I wrote but neglected to publish. Enjoy.

Q: Who in their right minds would start a startup?
A: Greedy Bastards.

Which is why so many startups fail. A lot of people start companies because they have a cool idea. Or a marketable idea. Or rich parents.

I can’t judge them too harshly. John and I started a company because we have a cool and marketable idea. Unfortunately, no rich parents. Thus, we beg at the door of Silicon Valley’s surrogate parents, the Sand Hill Sugar Daddies.

Unfortunately, many people who found a startup company during a frothy period (like right now) often lack the most important motivation: passion for their product. I challenge any CEO of a Myspace clone to honestly tell me that he’s passionate about bringing cat owners together with his brilliant new service, PurrfectSpace (made-up name, feel free to take it). C’mon, the guy doesn’t even own a cat. I can’t believe these things are still being launched, or worse, funded. Having said that, Dogster is doing pretty well, and its CEO Howard Rheingold does seem passionate about pets.

How does anyone find the energy to lead a startup from demo to profitability without passion, i.e. if they don’t believe that their product can change how people live?

When John presented the idea for Tenuki to me, the first thing I asked is would I use it? Then, would anyone else I know use it? Then, being a crass capitalist, can we make any money with it?

Answers: 1. Yes, I’d use it. 2. Maybe, better ask my friends. 3. No idea, better research the market space.

Only while I was researching the market space and refining the idea with John did I realize that Tenuki could actually change the way people live. Not in the way that a perpetual energy machine would, or an immortality pill, but in the way they interact with each other. I finally got the Big Idea. And that’s what made me quit my job and move out to San Francisco. I got the passion. The Passion of the John.

Update: A day after I wrote this entry, Fred Wilson wrote a piece on the importance of passion in running a company.