What are you are trying to accomplish with this response to Mark Suster's blog post? (honest question)
To me, the original post came across as encouragement to all the founders who feel like they are the only ones busting their butts and still feel stuck.
I felt this particular excerpt from your blog post though was a bit unfair to Suster:
> Suster (who’s a VC now) won’t take his own advice though, because:
> > Of course I do [want to be a founder again]! How could you not want to go back to it. It’s addicting. It’s an adrenaline rush like no other.
because in his post, he also says:
> Yet one day you wake up and you realize you can’t run as fast as the young guys. You can’t quite hit the 3-pointers as often. Yes, you have maturity that makes you a wiser player. But you realize that you can be more helpful as a coach.
And yes, I sleep better at night as a coach. And I’m happy as a VC.
"His advice" isn't for everyone to be a founder. I think it was just a pep talk, like: "If you feel like you're spinning your wheels going nowhere and everyone else is a rock star, don't worry, you're not alone. That's how everyone does it."
I don't know Mark or anyone he has invested in, nor am I particularly tied to him. However, it felt a little strong when you issued this warning:
> be careful around VCs like Suster, who’d love to give you heaps of money so you can get up at 4:50am and get a heart attack every time your money starts to run out.
Keep writing. I like your style and I think its great when people write. Just leaving my honest feedback as well because I felt some of the aggression was unwarranted.
What I'm trying to accomplish is this - pieces like 'Entrepreneurshit' perpetuate the myth that starting a business is a risky, stressful endeavour.
When I said 'be careful around VCs like Suster', I didn't actually mean anything about Suster in particular. I'm sure Suster is a great guy, and that he does his best to help entrepreneurs succeed.
You need to be careful with VCs like you need to be careful with casinos. Both enable you to take higher risks than you usually would. Sometimes you'll want high risk, and that's fine, but don't get blinded into thinking that it's the only way.
Your whole argument is a straw man though. I don't think anybody is suggesting that the only type of businesses are VC backed businesses.
Starting a high-growth startup is a risky, stressful endeavor. If you want to start a business that is not high-growth that is bootstrapped and grows slow but steady, great! That can result in an awesome financial outcome for you personally. Some people enjoy chasing hyper-growth and the risks that go with it, that doesn't make the OPs post wrong, it just means it applies to a different type of business and a different type of entrepreneur.
You're absolutely right - there are different types of businesses that fit different types of entrepreneurs, and that's exactly what Suster fails to capture. By reading his post, you could easily walk away with the feeling that entrepreneur = stress.
i think you make an important point: the entrepreneur myth that techcrunch/si valley perpetuate is not reality. and people who have gone through it (raising money etc, raising hand high here) often choose an alternative path. although i know i could raise money for matchist (new endeavor) im consciously making the decision to bootstrap to avoid this kind of stress/lifestyle. entrepreneurship is what you make it...entrepreneurshit is the myth
To me, the original post came across as encouragement to all the founders who feel like they are the only ones busting their butts and still feel stuck.
I felt this particular excerpt from your blog post though was a bit unfair to Suster:
> Suster (who’s a VC now) won’t take his own advice though, because:
> > Of course I do [want to be a founder again]! How could you not want to go back to it. It’s addicting. It’s an adrenaline rush like no other.
because in his post, he also says:
> Yet one day you wake up and you realize you can’t run as fast as the young guys. You can’t quite hit the 3-pointers as often. Yes, you have maturity that makes you a wiser player. But you realize that you can be more helpful as a coach.
And yes, I sleep better at night as a coach. And I’m happy as a VC.
"His advice" isn't for everyone to be a founder. I think it was just a pep talk, like: "If you feel like you're spinning your wheels going nowhere and everyone else is a rock star, don't worry, you're not alone. That's how everyone does it."
I don't know Mark or anyone he has invested in, nor am I particularly tied to him. However, it felt a little strong when you issued this warning:
> be careful around VCs like Suster, who’d love to give you heaps of money so you can get up at 4:50am and get a heart attack every time your money starts to run out.
Keep writing. I like your style and I think its great when people write. Just leaving my honest feedback as well because I felt some of the aggression was unwarranted.