The Ledger
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Hutchins: Most VCs fake interest in startups and withhold honest feedback
“Most VCs that I've worked with or talked to, they're not really interested in the company. In order to protect the future opportunity, they don't always give the best honest feedback, and that hurts the founder.”
Hutchins: Founders should never name-drop other VCs during fundraising
“Oh, I think none. If I'm a founder, and I tell someone at VC or at GV, oh, you know, I just had this great conversation with this other investor. I'm going to be like, great, I'll call them and see what's really happening. VCs all know each other. They all tal…”
Hutchins: SAFEs and convertible notes create distracting fundraising loops for founders
“Safes, convertible debt, they're all kind of based on future guesses. You kind of figure out the dilution later. It allows for this continual raising process that, you know, I know YC's talked a lot about that I think can be a huge distraction.”
Hutchins: Super pro rata rights for insiders block new lead investors
“If you are in a situation where the insiders have all of their pro rata rights, super pro rata rights, you get to a point that if you want to raise 20%, or you want to sell 20% of the company in your next round, and insiders are taking 15, it's going to be har…”
Hutchins: Crypto in 2018 is a speculative investment, not a retirement plan
“I feel like I'm seeing too many people spend too much time on it right now, and I kind of see it as more of a speculative investment for most people at this point, not a guaranteed way to plan your retirement.”
Warby Parker and Casper warrant VC backing through supply chain innovation
“At first glance, you might say that a number of companies like Warby Parker or Casper traditionally wouldn't be venture backed companies because they're kind of traditional e-commerce product companies. But I think as you dive into the supply chain, you dive i…”
Hutchins: Founders Should Practice Series A Pitches for 40 Hours
“In advance of a Series A, you should be giving the pitch for about 40 hours of practice and rehearsal before you give it to the first investor.”
Hutchins: The specific VC partner matters far more than fund reputation
“I think ultimately what you're looking for as a founder when fundraising, assuming you have options, is someone you think will be a partner to you, and you know, I always say that the partner means much more than the fund, and so find out how you work together…”
Hutchins: High-leverage founders should slow fundraising cycles to vet board partners
“So if you're the founder and the deal time is really, really tight, and you feel like you need another two hours to spend with the partners at the three funds you're thinking about working with, you have all the leverage. I could see the allure of just rushing…”
Hutchins: Preemptive funding rounds must price in six months of future growth
“I personally would want to make sure if someone wanted to preempt a round by six months, the round would need to be priced as if we were six months further along.”
Startup hiring requires a single leader and hundreds of candidate contacts
“Put one person in charge, and step one is just define the process and put someone in charge. If that person loves data even better, and just understand that it is a longer slog than I think anyone who's never been in charge of it realizes, and it might take yo…”
Hutchins takes minimal salary and relies on savings to build Grove
“Yeah, I would say relative to Silicon Valley, I probably have a low risk Risk tolerance. I'm not entirely investing my life savings in Bitcoin. I'm not a rabid angel investor. I think compared to the rest of the world, I'm probably pretty high risk tolerance i…”