Valuing Venture Capital

A recent email from a venture capitalist got me thinking. Venture capitalists are interested in the transaction and the money they can make from it. I am sure there are those that have greater thoughts and aspirations beyond just their next transaction, but, the structure of their business model is centered around the "flip" so no matter how you cut it the transaction will be their focus.

What they sell is money. There is no greater commodity in the world. What they value add is strategic advice. But I have to ask how can someone who is buying your business based upon what you have done provide you with advice? They want to buy what you made because they couldn't do it themselves, and then consider their expertise is focused on the short term perspective of the "flip" whereas yours, is, or should be, the long term value of creating a sustainable business.

Add on to this that we are living in a time where creating something is becoming easier, read cheaper, every day. You just don't need that much money to do something awesome anymore.

Something to think about when chatting with a VC and pricing the value they bring to the table.

P.S. we don't need money and don't want to retire, it was just a chat that went nowhere other than this blog post.