Do VCs "Add Value"? What Should Founders Be Optimizing For With Parker Conrad and Parker Thompson

On this episode of Venture Stories Erik is joined by Parker Thompson (@pt), partner at AngelList, and Parker Conrad (@parkerconrad), CEO of Rippling. In this episode they talk about how much value investors provide to founders, if any at all. They agree that the number one piece of value that an investor provides is as therapist for the founder. They get into the issues around mis-alignment of incentives between investors and founders and discuss some investor horror stories they’ve heard from founders that you typically won’t hear discussed out loud. Parker Conrad says that sometimes investors are value-destroyers. They discuss why investors need to market themselves as “founder-friendly” and why if someone needs to point out that they “add value” then they likely aren’t adding as much value as they’d like you to think. Parker and Parker talk about the amount of signalling in investing and why VCs do things as much for their LPs as for the founders. They agree that the impact of investors on your company is overrated and that a good investor has about the same effect as a good director-level hire. They also discuss the idea of a union for entrepreneurs, the effects of standardized deal terms and why the idea of a “Glassdoor for investors” hasn’t found traction yet. Thanks for listening — if you like what you hear, please review us on your favorite podcast platform. Check us out on the web at villageglobal.vc or get in touch with us on Twitter @villageglobal. Venture Stories is brought to you by Village Global and is hosted by co-founder and partner, Erik Torenberg. Colin Campbell is our audio engineer and the show is produced by Brett Bolkowy.