Insight certainty 4/5 debate potential 3/5

Taggar: Investors soften feedback for repeat founders to protect referral networks

Harj Taggar · Advantages Of A First-Time Founder · Y Combinator · Sep 15, 2022 · at 9:30

Y Combinator Group Partner Harj Taggar explains why venture capitalists handle repeat founders with kid gloves compared to first-time founders.

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“And it's like when you're a second time founder, the investors know that you know more people. They don't want to give you bad feedback, right? Like they're incentivized to tell you nice things so that you'll continue being nice to them. Whereas when you're a first time founder, you're less useful to an investor in that way. So they kind of can be a little bit more like just direct with what they think about you. They can treat you without the Kid gloves or the, they don't wrap you up in cotton wool as much.”

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