Stories by Artem Khromov on Medium

Things I hate about VCs and Accelerators

Artem Khromov — Sun, 04 Sep 2022 09:26:38 GMT

Hypocrisy — they never say yes or no or anything directly for some cryptic (kinda) reasons. As they’re afraid of being publicly accused of discrimination or afraid of missing an opportunity at some later point of time.

They bend over backwards to manifest PQPA — precise questions — precise answers, but fail to deliver any valuable feedback whatsoever.

You may hear excuses like — we’ve got too many inquiries and too little time, but to be honest — if they’ve got 30 minutes for a zoom call, there should be another minute or two to reply with something more useful.

Like attracts like, with all this fake it until you make it, it’s not a surprise that lot’s of startups pretend instead of actually building something. Which in turn leads to more and more money being lost.

Lack of transparency — from the bystander perspective it looks like you’re being cancelled for some unknown reasons — ethnicity, origin, gender, education, whatever even if you’re doing all at your disposal to create value and you will never figure that out (see p.1)

How to reduce uncertainty while building a startup?

Artem Khromov — Sat, 03 Sep 2022 15:56:20 GMT

Short answer is — you can’t. It’s just the nature of things and sooner or later you’ll accept it. Or will be forced to.

At least there is no way you can do it mentally, staying inside your mind and analysing.

Do your best to dissipate your hallucinations about values, gains, pains and market.

Get out of the building.

Ask damn questions and mindfully listen for the responses.

What causes impostor syndrome?

Artem Khromov — Wed, 31 Aug 2022 05:41:59 GMT

1. Dismissing your natural strengths and thinking that everyone is good at them — It’s easy, no big deal.

2. The more knowledge and expertise you gain in a particular field, the more you realise how much you yet don’t know — Dunning–Kruger effect

Who is a startup mentor and do you need one?

Artem Khromov — Tue, 30 Aug 2022 14:33:24 GMT

A startup mentor is someone who has “been there and done that” and successful founders from all industries are having mentors at different stages of their startups’ growth.

4 reasons to get a mentor for your future unicorn:

1. Independent Assessment

As founder you may eventually become too personally involved and develop a tunnel vision dismissing valuable market signals or overlooking some important details.

A good mentor will provide you an honest review, pointing out what is and isn’t working.

2. Unique expertise + network

Look for mentors who are experts in your field. General advice is fine in the early stages, but you’ll need more specialized guidance as you advance.

Ability to reach out to the right people at the right time is a founder’s mastery. Use a leverage.

3. A source of motivation

Someone actively nudging you to stand up and move on and a person you don’t want to become upset.

Additionally, one of the things investors fear the most is founders’ burnout, a way of mitigating that risk would make your project look more attractive.

4. Accountability & credibility

Great mentors won’t sell themselves short and put their reputation at stake, if you were able to get a them on board, it already means something.

As a combination of impartial observer and a pacekeeper, they help to establish inner feedback loop.

Does your startup have a mentor?

How did you find one and what goals were you trying to achieve with them?