And they don't even know it.
After working with 100+ founders, I've discovered the most toxic phrase in Silicon Valley:
"Build it right the first time."
Here's what happens when VCs get involved:
THE VC DEATH SPIRAL:
- You raise $3M seed round
- VC says "Think big, build for enterprise"
- You hire senior engineers from Google/Meta
- 12 months later: Enterprise-grade architecture, 47 users
- Series A rejection: "No traction"
The brutal truth VCs won't tell you:
They've never built a startup from zero.
Their advice comes from managing BILLION-dollar companies, not finding your first paying customer.
WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENS:
Airbnb's first version: Founders manually uploading photos
Stripe's MVP: 7 lines of code, no dashboard
Instagram: Took 2 years to build a web version
Your VC wants you to build the company they wish they'd invested in 5 years ago.
Not the company you need to be TODAY.
My new rule for funded startups:
Build like you're bootstrapped.
Spend VC money on customers, not code perfection.
But wait, VCs won't let you do that.
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