“VCs suck about as bad as startups” – Dave McClure, 500 Startups at Echelon 2013

Founding Partner of 500 Startups Dave McClure delivered a session on ‘Shifts in investment trends in Silicon Valley and the Series A crunch’ at Echelon 2013 in Singapore. In his distinctive flamboyant style, Dave spoke about investment trends in Silicon Valley and other markets, changes among tech startups off-late and the Series A crunch (or the lack thereof!)Below are a few snippets from his presentation:

• We are very bullish on the emerging markets, that’s where the growth is.
• Changes in tech startups: Less capital required to build companies; lots more people online, particularly on online platforms; Increase in number of incubators
• VCs can be “lean” too: We apply Lean Startup concept in our investment thinking: Invest in lot of startups, making incremental investments
• 500 Startups Strategy: Lots of little bets
• As an investment class we (VCs) suck! VCs suck just about as startups do!
• Investment stages for a startup:

1. Product Validation + Customer Usage
2. Market Validation + Revenue Testing
3. Revenue Validation + Growth 

• For startups in countries where the government gives grants/support: Don’t prioritize government money over money from your customers
• Series A Crunch is bulls**t! You should not worry about Series A crunch too much. There is more capital inventory being created than availability of fundable startups. Not every startup needs Series A and not many startups survive till Series A. 

Below is Dave's presentation at the conference.

Silicon Valley 2.0: Lots of Little Bets + Beating the Series A Crunch from Dave McClure