Of Flying cars and VCs
This one starts with a story that goes back 2 years ago.
I was working with an NUS research lab, thinking of ways to commercialise a project they were working on internally. The product was built, was a hardware product, but was being used in a completely different application. We were testing the feasibility of the product for another application and to do this we conducted close to 50 user interviews. From the interviews we realised that the pain point in the application we were thinking of was huge. The users were facing problems and were coming up with hacky solutions. For me this was an ideal market.
As part of the program, we had to meet with people from the industry to get their feedback on the project. While on one such session, I decided to meet a VC in Singapore. The guy runs what I now realise is a Zombie fund. Sadly, till this time I was not very acquainted with the VC industry and for me any investor was a good enough investor. I ended up pitching the idea to him and these were his exact words to me: “You have identified a problem but don’t seem to have a proper solution. Just because a problem exists doesn’t mean it can be solved. For example, people will say they want flying cars. Doesn’t mean they can be built.”
At the time, I accepted this feedback and was pretty influenced by it, especially given the investor’s experience. And then yesterday I came across this:
And I say to this VC now what I should have said 2 years ago sitting in that room,
“Bullshit”
Many reasons for why this news excites me.
Firstly, flying cars is super cool. Leave aside the disruption, decongestion of roads, less energy requirements, better economics blah blah blah, it is just something all engineers fantasise of in their sci-fi dreams.
Secondly, it makes me realise how narrow minded the VC in this story was. How he cannot imagine the future 3 years on. And how big a bully he is to demotivate a potential entrepreneur walking into his room seeking some advice.
Thirdly, I have also woken up to the fact that the world does consist of investors like these. Please stay away from them. If unfortunately you bump into them, please don’t take their talks to your heart. No investor has the right to say “this can’t be done”. They have a right to say whether they’ll put their money behind your idea, and that’s about it. Most investors manage some one else’s money and hence have to be risk-averse. They have to weigh the returns and risks carefully for each investment that walks through their doors. They can opine on whether an idea makes business sense to them. But they don’t have a right to incite self-doubt.
Hence, if you’re a founder reading this and have been in a similar situation or ever find yourself in a similar situation, ignore the naysayers. If you feel strongly about a problem, are passionate enough to give it all you have got, go ahead and fucking do it. Beg, borrow, steal, or pitch to a VC, but you WILL find a way.
