There would really be no reason to get up in the morning if Founders Fund was not willing to invest in companies that were doing important things, great businesses that very few people believe in.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
There's a number of companies clearly that we wish we had invested in either at the early or at the moderate stage.
Great companies start because the founders want to change the world... not make a fast buck.
I don't think a lot of people have been entrepreneurial about venture capital.
For a lot of people, one of the reasons they don't like to work for founders of startups is that they can be sensitive and protective around what they've built. You have an emotional attachment to the early marketing and technology materials, and you don't want to hear that anything's wrong with them.
The more entrepreneurs in the world that are getting their ideas financed, the more great companies there are going to be that we can all invest in.
What we believe at Founders Fund is that technology is a way to help everybody on the planet.
Most startup entrepreneurs unnecessarily spend half their time and give up half their equity in search of funding from angel investors and venture capitalists. Tens of millions of dollars are available to them for free from partners who not only don't want their equity, they don't even want to be paid back.
Every venture capitalist says at some point, 'I wish I could run this company myself' - to be the entrepreneur instead of the investor.
Part of the magic of a startup is the fear of death. You have only so much money in the bank, and if you don't get to the right milestone before you run out, then the company goes under - it's over.
Ask any venture capitalist, and they will tell you that they consider the experience and completeness of the founding team to be a more important factor in their investment decision than the technology that is being built.
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