So rant #1.
Government bureaucrats are bureaucrats and thus deserve the ridicule they receive. Don’t try and argue, don’t try and justify, the majority of government administration types hide their atrocious behavior behind the minutae of inane rules, laws and procedures. The bare minimum levels of courtesy, politeness and logic are all that are necessary to survive in this environment because outside in the business world they would be eaten alive. A business in a city is not a client that the city would ever try to please. No, instead the city is a leach giving as little as it can in exchange for whatever exorbitant license fee it can extract. They will try and tell you it is all for the public good, all the while they send your business either into bankruptcy or you pass the extra cost onto the consumer the “watchdog” is so desperately trying to protect. So is this all too general for you? Sure maybe it is. I can give specific examples if anyone really wants them but I think for the most part anyone who has dealt with city hall(s) knows that of which I speak.
rant #2
Having been in the fund-raising game for a while I am constantly flummoxed by the ever changing requirements of one VC or angel versus another. On the one hand you hear that “give me reasonable financials” whereas on the other hand you hear from another angel “I only want investments that can return 10X”. Its not that I disagree with either statement per se but the 30 seconds in which you have to present your pitch or perhaps 15 minutes if you’re lucky really isn’t enough time for a good idea. An airline would never buy a plane based on a 15 minute presentation but instead would take time to examine many things before making a decision but most Angels I have seen only seem to want a sound bite or two, expect to be swept off their feet and think nothing about cutting someone’s dream without even so much as a modicum of real thought. Even worse was when I was submarined by one “Angel” who kept badgering me to name similar companies in other industries to mine. I mentioned a couple and then I mentioned “Angie’s List” to which he said in front of a roomful of other angels, “Angie’s list just took out bankruptcy this morning”. Huh? What the crap is that? I told him that it wasn’t true and even if it were, different industry, different business model etc. doesn’t mean we are going out. Needless to say, after presenting, we got a 30 second “no” full of no real reason other than buzzkill (“Angie’s list is dead) guy who was dead wrong, and “some of the angels have invested in that space and those investments failed so the group isn’t interested” Yup, that is the extent of the feedback.
