David Politis is the founder and CEO of BetterCloud. He shares observations on reading investor signals and decoding common VC rejections during early-stage fundraising.
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“When people said, oh, this is interesting, you know, stay in touch. I thought they actually meant this is interesting. Stay in touch. They don't, you know, they don't at all.”
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More from David Politis
Insight
Politis: Recruiting and retaining employees via perks is lazy and unhealthy
“In general, I feel like incentivizing or recruiting or retaining people through perks is, is pretty lazy. I think it's superficial. It's unhealthy.”
David PolitisDec 23, 2016▶ 11:3020VC: What VCs Really Mean They Say 'Stay In Touch', Why Incentivisation Through Perks Is Lazy & Why Founders Should Always Under-Promise & Over-Deliver with David Politis, Founder @ CEO @ Bettercloud
Insight
Startup culture breaks down at 80 employees without deliberate management
“When you get to 80, 90, a hundred people, that's at least where I've seen it, if you're not deliberate about it breaks down. It breaks down because there's just, especially if you think about how many people you've been hiring and how fast, usually at that poi…”
David PolitisDec 23, 2016▶ 14:0920VC: What VCs Really Mean They Say 'Stay In Touch', Why Incentivisation Through Perks Is Lazy & Why Founders Should Always Under-Promise & Over-Deliver with David Politis, Founder @ CEO @ Bettercloud
Disclosure
BetterCloud requires leaders to share 360 feedback and weaknesses with team
“The key part of this is that the leader has to then take that feedback, good, bad, and ugly, and show it to their entire team. And with that feedback, they also have to tell them what they're going to do to work on their weaknesses.”
David PolitisDec 23, 2016▶ 17:4220VC: What VCs Really Mean They Say 'Stay In Touch', Why Incentivisation Through Perks Is Lazy & Why Founders Should Always Under-Promise & Over-Deliver with David Politis, Founder @ CEO @ Bettercloud
Disclosure
BetterCloud caused culture shock by introducing ten HR programs simultaneously
“We made a mistake in is we got so excited about being deliberate. We made 80 changes that, you know, I don't know, we made something like we put in 10 people programs at once over a period of a couple months, and it was shock. It just shocked everyone. It was …”
David PolitisDec 23, 2016▶ 19:0020VC: What VCs Really Mean They Say 'Stay In Touch', Why Incentivisation Through Perks Is Lazy & Why Founders Should Always Under-Promise & Over-Deliver with David Politis, Founder @ CEO @ Bettercloud
AssertionNot checkable as stated
Politis failed to articulate BetterCloud's 10-year vision in early fundraising
“I did not do a good job in any round. Really articulating the really, really big vision for BetterCloud. I kind of take this under-promise, over-deliver approach, and I'm just conservative in, in my approach in general, in planning and in, in everything. And s…”
David PolitisDec 23, 2016▶ 23:2320VC: What VCs Really Mean They Say 'Stay In Touch', Why Incentivisation Through Perks Is Lazy & Why Founders Should Always Under-Promise & Over-Deliver with David Politis, Founder @ CEO @ Bettercloud
AssertionPartly supported
Politis became Vocalocity CEO after the firm laid off almost everyone
“Six months after starting that job, they ended up letting go of everyone in the company except for me and one engineer, and so the two of us were left there to build this business. They actually made me CEO of the company.”
David PolitisDec 23, 2016▶ 3:3720VC: What VCs Really Mean They Say 'Stay In Touch', Why Incentivisation Through Perks Is Lazy & Why Founders Should Always Under-Promise & Over-Deliver with David Politis, Founder @ CEO @ Bettercloud
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