Sonali De Rycker was not on this episode. A recording of them was played into it, so these
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Sonali De Rycker is a Partner at Accel. She discusses the contradictory pressure VCs put on startup founders during macro economic shifts between 2020 and 2022.
0:00 / 0:23exact quote · 23.6s
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“And right now it's such a confusing time for these founders, right? We told them cut costs during COVID. It's a recession. Who knows? The demand is gone. Then there was money flowing through the system. Money had never been cheaper. It was all about growth. We said, no, no, no, no, no. Forget that. Just grow, grow, grow at all costs. Like burn. Doesn't matter about the burn. It's all about growth. And now the messages are like, no, no, no. You've got to get the profitability all within two years. It's almost psychotic.”
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More from Sonali De Rycker
Opinion
De Rycker: Erratic VC advice during COVID was deeply confusing for founders
“It's such a confusing time for these founders, right? They, we told them, Cut costs during COVID. It's a recession. Who knows? The demand is gone. Then there was money flowing through the system. Money had never been cheaper. It was all about growth. We said, …”
Sonali De RyckerJun 27, 2022▶ 10:22Sonali De Rycker | How I Became a Partner at Accel; Type 1 vs. Type 2 Mistakes | 20VC #902 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Insight
De Rycker: Outcome scenario planning is useless for early-stage venture capital
“You can do all your outcome analysis. It doesn't really matter, especially if you invest. As early as we do.”
Sonali De RyckerJun 27, 2022▶ 40:52Sonali De Rycker | How I Became a Partner at Accel; Type 1 vs. Type 2 Mistakes | 20VC #902 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Insight
De Rycker: Blindly exercising pro-rata rights severely damaged VC fund performance
“The biggest mistakes were people just putting a lot of pro rata money in or just following in and supporting companies. So you get your outliers, but then if a lot of your percentage of your fund goes into companies that actually don't return capital because y…”
Sonali De RyckerJun 27, 2022▶ 43:21Sonali De Rycker | How I Became a Partner at Accel; Type 1 vs. Type 2 Mistakes | 20VC #902 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Insight
De Rycker: Global venture capital expansion requires local on-the-ground presence
“How do you do global? Well, is that you have boots on the ground, you have local decision-making, you're investing in entrepreneurs. It's a relationship business. You need to be able to make that investment decisions sitting across the table and, you know, not…”
Sonali De RyckerJun 27, 2022▶ 52:29Sonali De Rycker | How I Became a Partner at Accel; Type 1 vs. Type 2 Mistakes | 20VC #902 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Insight
De Rycker: Backing struggling founders pays off in their next startup
“But I think the relationship with the founders matters a lot because that's what we're in the business of doing is backing them and, you know, backing repeat founders. Company number one didn't work, but company number two might be a blockbuster.”
Sonali De RyckerJun 27, 2022▶ 12:31Sonali De Rycker | How I Became a Partner at Accel; Type 1 vs. Type 2 Mistakes | 20VC #902 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
AssertionNot checkable as stated
De Rycker: Accel pays team-wide bonuses when junior investors source winning deals
“If one of the younger investment team members identifies a great company, A great founder that we actually end up investing in. Everybody gets a bonus because that's sort of a way to hard code collaboration”
Sonali De RyckerJun 27, 2022▶ 20:24Sonali De Rycker | How I Became a Partner at Accel; Type 1 vs. Type 2 Mistakes | 20VC #902 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
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