Go pitch a VC with an idea, and they'll tell you to build it.
Go to them with a prototype and they'll tell you to launch it.
Launch it, and they'll tell you to get more users.
Get users and they'll tell you to get paying customers.
Get paying customers and they'll tell you to get bigger, enterprise clients.
Get enterprise clients and they'll tell you to get them faster, because it seems to be taking too long.
It frustrates me to no end. If someone actually did check all these boxes, it would be a Series B deal, not a seed investment.
Last I checked, taking risk, and being ok with uncertainty, is supposed to be our job. No risk, no return.
Technology is moving faster, markets are changing more quickly and uncertainty seems to be increasing.
In my mind, that creates the opportunity for increasing returns. New markets are available. We're doing things in personal health, mobile, and physical products that we never could have done ten years ago. TVs are changing. Finance is changing.
Risk, over the long term, is going to be rewarded, but there are no sure bets. Let's remember that, people.
If you're not cool with risk as an investor, may I interest you in some very nice fixed income jobs.
*This post was not directed at anyone specific.