Investing in post-bubble consumer tech was non-obvious in the mid-2000s
Bijan Sabet · 20VC: Spark's Bijan Sabet on Investing in Twitter, Tumblr and Foursquare & Why First Time Founders Are So Exciting · Jun 6, 2016 · at 4:33
Bijan Sabet, General Partner at Spark Capital, reflects on market sentiment surrounding consumer tech startups and first-time founders when Spark Capital was founded.
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“The idea of backing entrepreneurs that were first-time entrepreneurs after the bubble burst in consumer, you know, right now it seems very obvious, but I can tell you at the time, it wasn't obvious.”
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More from Bijan Sabet
VCs wrongly expect first-time founders to be market-ready immediately
“I don't think anyone's market ready from the get go. I think it's a flawed assumption with VCs where they try to imagine that, that these first time founders or any founders are going to just figure it all out.”
A new breakout consumer mobile company will emerge in 2016 or 2017
“If history is a guide, you know, this year, next year, we're going to see a breakout in a brand new company.”
Startups needing under $2M in deficit financing should not raise VC
“I think if your company needs probably, you know, less than a million or two million dollars of deficit financing to accomplish the mission, You know, you shouldn't raise venture capital for that.”
First-time founders possess a unique audacity and fearlessness
“I think first time founders have a level of audacity that, you know, sometimes more experienced people don't have because they, they're just, there's no fear.”
Founder vision and instincts matter more than academic pedigree
“And I also, I've just never bought into this kind of elitist way of thinking about like where you went to school You know, where you work, you know, whether you work at Google or, you know, Apple or something, it's more of, you know, what's your idea? What, wh…”