Jude Gomila

Founder Resilience Thrives when Investor Power Wanes

There was a time when founder power was weak relative to the investment community. There was expectation mismatch between what people perceived as a sacred 1 hour perfect presentation of two humans souls to each other and the real dynamics of power law selection. The secretary search problem was in full gear with massive levels of opportunity cost on both sides where only a few founders would get through to the next steps. That brought out the worst in people and the BEST. When I raised for @heyzap back in the 2009 all the horror stories were out in full force. It was brutal. But the brutality was a rite of passage. We were told by Sequoia the good times were over. We were told by YC the entire batch could pause the companies if we wanted because the market was so bad. But we continued. Hungry, penniless but focused. We met with angels who had fallen. We had VCs meet with us for dinner who had zero intention of backing us but just wanted to eat in expensive sushi restaurants. We had one get extremely drunk at a meal in SF and then drive back completely drunk to palo alto (we told him NOT to drive back drunk and that he could have expenses pay for a car and for his car to be picked up), he was 10 years older than us and didnt listen - he wanted to drive back drunk, he liked the risk. He also investigated our fridge and the food we ate (there was very little in that fridge). We didnt want his money after that experience even though we wanted to eat. We had people ask for board seats for $25k checks. We had people try to trap us into vendor agreement as part of long winded investment DD. I had some of the worst meetings in my life in those rooms AND the best. Power law selection pressure to the max. But then we found something. We found a stream of gold in silicon valley. We found the players that were smart, respectful, insightful, legends. We found the @naval s and the @pmarca s we found the @joshu s and the @cdixon and the @albertwenger s and @fredwilson s and the @balajis and all the other good souls out there that are too long for this tweet. I am grateful for this. (We had found the @paulg in the beginning and @ycombinator community which had set the correct model for how it should be done.) Then the valley shifted as founder power built up. Now we are in reverse, the founders have the pen and we must use it effectively, especially in the time of hyper leverage of AI. Let the spice flow.