The Rudeness Factor

Jason has a post up at the Ask The VC entitled "Are Venture Capitalist incompetent or just inconsiderate?"

From Frank Ronchetti (a CFO in a start-up)

"Are VCs incompetent or just inconsiderate? Not all venture capitalists mind you, just the ones who solicit your proposal, read your executive summary, or even meet with you, and then you never hear another word from them. What’s up with that?"

and

"Entrepreneurs bust their butts and spend dozens of hours writing business plans, arranging investor meetings, and preparing and making presentations. Venture capital fund managers owe them the courtesy and respect of making a two-minute phone call to say, “No thank you.” "

Jason has a response that, like the whole post, you should read.

An excerpt:

"Okay, I haven’t answered your question: Are VCs incompetent or just inconsiderate? I think it’s more of the latter than the former, but ineffective communication styles, in my opinion, will eventually affect a VCs returns as reputations do matter in this business."

I agree with Jason that it certainly is mostly being inconsiderate. With email bankruptcy being some type of an excuse/pass, these days, I'm not surprised.  Like Jason/Brad, I really try to answer everything, say no fast, and re-look when somebody makes a decent case that I missed something material.  I do it for exactly the reason Jason says, reputation matters.

But you also have to have a sense of humor, right?  As I was reading Jason's post, I got this email:

---------------------------------------

From: Jay 
Sent: Monday, March 24, 2008 10:37 AM
To: Rick Segal
Cc:
Subject: Confirming on []

 

Hi Rick,

I hope you had a good Easter.  I am scheduled to fly out tomorrow as discussed to Toronto.  I wanted to confirm that we were still on for Wednesday as well as the time, I also wanted to ensure that things were moving forward on your end regarding this discussion.  Please ping me to confirm, and I will make sure we have [] available by phone. 
--
Thanks!

Best regards,

Jay

----------------------------------

I responded with:

--------------------------

From: Rick Segal
Sent: Monday, March 24, 2008 10:43 AM
To: Jay
Cc:
Subject: RE: Confirming on []

 

Typically we cancel the meetings when the person is already in the air. We leave a message at the airport saying sorry, just go home.

 

But since you asked.. Yup, we are on for Wed.

 

>R<

--------------------------------

 

 

Comments

[Will Pate]

Oh boy, you *almost* made me squirt coffee out my nose.