Re:The secret algorithm one VC firm uses to pick entrepreneurs
by biesnecker on Sunday December 30, 2012 @03:16PM
(#4986943)
Agreed, Moneyball works because of the vast amount of data that is collectable in baseball. Even more fluid sports like basketball and football have a hard time applying algorithms to player ratings (though it's beginning to happen).
While I do think there are probably some useful objective ways to measure entrepreneurs, unless someone has enough data points under his or her belt the "Moneyball" approach is never going to give reliable results.
There is also nothing in this algorithm that seems to account for scrappiness, determination, ability to take hard hits, and a host of other intangibles that make someone a good entrepreneur. I'm not sure you can measure that algorithmically, other than possibly from past entrepreneurial experience, although that's a story better told by the entrepreneur rather than some arbitrary proxy.
If I ever take VC, I hope it's from a VC that believes in me, my team, and what we're doing, and not just whether I fit into their mold of what they think an entrepreneur should look like.