http://venturehacks.com/articles/machiavellian-investor Good advice for startups. Thu, 11 Mar 2010 09:25:02 -0800 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 http://venturehacks.com/articles/machiavellian-investor/comment-page-1#comment-5678 Marc Dangeard Wed, 29 Oct 2008 00:12:34 +0000 http://venturehacks.com/?p=472#comment-5678 Your post reads like there are good investors and bad investors, and I am not sure this is a fair statement. From what I read, the investor in your example is a money manager who invest other's people money. And if this is the case, they are just doing their job, and being more or less aggressive in doing it: a money manager's job (your typical VC) is to maximize the return on investment for his LPs, any trick is fair game (as long as it is legal), it does not mean you have to say yes to everything. You should also realize that some investors may be less aggressive in their negotiation, but they still have a duty to maximize the return for their LPs. So really the best way to deal with investors in general is to stay away from them, and if you cannot do without to be fully aware of what you are getting into when you take the money in the first place. Get the ones who invest their own money first, as they do not have the same time constraints and duties to other people, and only get VC money if you have absolutely no other choice. Your post reads like there are good investors and bad investors, and I am not sure this is a fair statement.
From what I read, the investor in your example is a money manager who invest other’s people money. And if this is the case, they are just doing their job, and being more or less aggressive in doing it: a money manager’s job (your typical VC) is to maximize the return on investment for his LPs, any trick is fair game (as long as it is legal), it does not mean you have to say yes to everything.
You should also realize that some investors may be less aggressive in their negotiation, but they still have a duty to maximize the return for their LPs.
So really the best way to deal with investors in general is to stay away from them, and if you cannot do without to be fully aware of what you are getting into when you take the money in the first place. Get the ones who invest their own money first, as they do not have the same time constraints and duties to other people, and only get VC money if you have absolutely no other choice.

]]> http://venturehacks.com/articles/machiavellian-investor/comment-page-1#comment-5671 Nivi Tue, 28 Oct 2008 01:35:43 +0000 http://venturehacks.com/?p=472#comment-5671 Hi Scott, I didn't realize that this came off as linkbait. I don't like linkbait. Matt's article has the "how to" portion. I just moved one of the paragraphs in the article to make that more clear. Does that help? Hi Scott, I didn’t realize that this came off as linkbait. I don’t like linkbait. Matt’s article has the “how to” portion. I just moved one of the paragraphs in the article to make that more clear. Does that help?

]]> http://venturehacks.com/articles/machiavellian-investor/comment-page-1#comment-5670 Scott Rafer Tue, 28 Oct 2008 00:49:43 +0000 http://venturehacks.com/?p=472#comment-5670 nice linkbait. please don't use "how-to" and then not provide any advice. nice linkbait. please don’t use “how-to” and then not provide any advice.

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