I've known my share. Hashtag Not All Venture Capitalists, but the field is indeed a magnet for a certain type of sociopath who would happily feed a school bus full of children into a metal shredder if it meant they got seed funding out of it. - ThreadSky

scalzi.com • 17 days ago

I've known my share. Hashtag Not All Venture Capitalists, but the field is indeed a magnet for a certain type of sociopath who would happily feed a school bus full of children into a metal shredder if it meant they got seed funding out of it.

Reposted from Meat Bicycle Tenderizer

Why are you so good at capturing everything I hate about venture capitalists and distilling it into a pure, rancid tar that I pour into my eyes with every new release?

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kww.bsky.social•17 days ago

As the former CTO of a VC-funded startup, I believe that your description matches most VCs.

Of course, the day I lost $21.5M to other people's recklessness and greed may colour my opinion. Watching other people crash your boat while you are shackled by insider trading rules is character changing.

rayvyn2k.bsky.social•17 days ago

alexlooksup.bsky.social•17 days ago

You once wrote a character I immediately disliked, and when they went on to do an absolutely awful thing, current-administration-bad, I threw the book across the room. Like, without thinking.

I'm still impressed.

malixe.bsky.social•17 days ago

"Kids? Eh, they can always make more; but MY start-up is SPECIAL AND UNIQUE!

joycereynoldsward.bsky.social•17 days ago

Not just VC sorts but any corporate manager exposed to the Jack Welch school of thought where you boost the quarterly earnings by laying more people off.
'90s corporate life is a straight-line extrapolation to now (and the basis for a lot of my work).

rmjwell.bsky.social•17 days ago

Reminds me of futures traders in the late 80s. Have they been distilling themselves into their final, slimiest form?

arfisk.bsky.social•17 days ago

Haworth mentioned a study showing that a high proportion of economists were sociopaths.

I suspect this has led to a positive feedback loop in their models.

cdm.expert•16 days ago

Oh, the "venture capitalist" is a special kind of human. I've done a lot of pitches and some number of successful raises, and John's portrayals of them are far too kind. Many of them would be vastly humbler were they only as arrogant as fElon. If it cheers you, the vultures of PE are killing them.

vglntgrandma.bsky.social•17 days ago

Although they’re the most ‘for profit’ of all the for profit world, there is not a trivial number of ethical and generous individuals. I have a hard time lumping them with those that are greedy assholes.

emlitofnote.bsky.social•17 days ago

Oh, no, that's not how PE works – they buy a school bus full of children, rip out the kids and feed them through a wood chipper, then they can resell the "better performing"* school bus at a profit!

* delivery of actual children to school not guaranteed

nerdylawyer.bsky.social•16 days ago

I remember when that was called "what the mob did to the Bamboo Lounge in Goodfellas."

arigesher.bsky.social•17 days ago

Whoah, whoah. PE is a totally different brand of sociopath.

stanntastic.bsky.social•17 days ago

As someone who also has experience with venture capitalists, this is entirely accurate.

tcat117.bsky.social•16 days ago

Took BGEN-101 as a pre-req. The instructor was some tech-bro who was really good at sounding like the smartest guy in the room while having zero idea wtf he was talking about.

Unfortunately for both of us, I am a possibly autistic combat vet with a compulsive need to call bullshit when I see it.

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