Silicon Valley's 'rule of 2-3' limits free mentor meetings before compensation
Marvin Liao · 20 VC 083: 500 Startups Week: New Funds, Startup Mentoring and Dave's Masterplan with Marvin Liao, Partner @ 500 Startups · Oct 28, 2015 · at 9:10
Marvin Liao, Partner at 500 Startups, explains how mentors and founders can manage initial interactions to set clear expectations and protect their time.
0:00 / 0:26exact quote · 26.3s
720p mp4 · rendered on demand · StarZero watermark
“There's this rule in Silicon Valley called the rule of two to three. ... You know, your first, like, two to three meetings, your first two to three introductions are free, but, sort of, if you, if they want more than that, there needs to be some type of, sort of, I guess, compensation is not the right way to say it, but, like, I think, like, as a mentor, you should be just coming in, sort of, like, trying to, like, really, with the view of, sort of, just trying to help, but, of course, like, with that rule, it prevents you from, sort of, being taken advantage as well, too, right?”
quote is from the automated transcript, cleaned for reading: filler sounds and stutters are removed, nothing is rephrased. names can be misheard (the analysis reads context, assessments check outside sources). how →
More from Marvin Liao
Former Yahoo executive Marvin Liao predicts the company is 'toast'
“If I'm honest, I think they're probably toast. It's a one point O company in a three point O world. I just, I'm very skeptical. And this isn't anything against Marissa, but I just think it's just, it was such a mess when I left and I probably take some credit …”
Founders should avoid mentors who advise startups as their primary income
“I worry about, sort of, like, mentors who do this as, like, as their job, where they're, like, advising, sort of, startups as, like, their, you know, like, their main, sort of, like, income. I do, sort of, worry about that, where I, kind of, like, you do it be…”
Liao: Seed-stage startups are 'stupid' to form a board of directors
“And in this early stage, like, frankly speaking, like, I think you'd be kind of stupid to have a board at a company like this early, at least the stage that we're investing in.”
Emerging startup markets lack investor sophistication, not entrepreneurial talent
“I think the big, sort of, gap in many, many markets now is really on the investor side, like, investor education and sophistication,”
Liao: Investors who dislike science fiction should not be in venture capital
“Like, any investor who doesn't like science fiction, I think, should not be in the investing game.”
Liao: Using M&A as R&D fails for most large tech companies
“I mean M&A is hard in, in general. I think most big companies are not good at M&A. I think like Cisco used to have a good reputation for doing good M&A. Boy, Facebook I think has done a great job. I think in the last week they'll be done. But outside of that, …”