The perfect example being elizabeth holmes/theranos. Getting access to capital is about who you know, not what you know. It's mostly a privileged position but that's the case for most things in life. Whether we like it or not. We are taught that business is about merit/hard work/etc. But ultimately, business is about relationships.
While I agree that venture is still a very tight knit network, I disagree that you cannot penetrate the bubble. Easy feeders into the venture community include accelerators like YC/Techstars, relocating to a venture hotspot like SF/NYC, or finding traction and prominence on social platforms like HN/Twitter
Re:Bootstrapping (2019)
by halfmatthalfcat on Tuesday October 13, 2020 @01:13PM
(#24767555)
"Easy feeders" = being the 2% that get accepted into YC, moving your life to another city or building a large social media presence...yes, easy.
This should be taken with a massive grain of salt and skepticism. Capital is available to those who are either 1 or 2 degrees separated from the VC community. In my experience, the VC community is incredibly hostile and skeptics themselves, only entertaining leads that are at the very minimum, luke-warm. If you're a founder just starting out with no connection to the VC community, you're gonna have a really rough time just getting a meeting, let alone a term sheet. It's kind of ironic but again, this is my experience.