Poster of Kim Il-sung, in Pyongyang.
(via National Post: World Press Photo of the Year 2012 announces its winners)
So You Want to be a VC?
4. VC is about being an investor. I find that I tend to have these conversations more often with former operators or folks with a professional service background. VC seems attractive because you get to work with entrepreneurs, see companies across a broad set of sub-sectors, and can help multiple companies facing a variety of important decisions. All of this is true. But what’s underlying all of this is that as a VC, you are an investor of other people’s money. Your fiduciary responsibility is to generate a great return for your limited partners. I find that there is a different way that investors tend to think about things. It’s hard for me to put my finger on it exactly, and it’s not true for everyone in the VC business. But I often tell people to think of that friend of theirs who somehow, always find a way to win when he goes to Vegas or plays poker. There’s something about that person’s psyche that is well tuned to evaluating risk, managing emotions, and generating a return on capital. And I think you need a bit of whatever that special mojo is to be a good investor. Now, many of the best VC’s out there have been terrific entrepreneurs and many work very hard with entrepreneurs to help their businesses succeed. But those folks are also great investors, and sometimes, your responsibility as an investor will come into conflict with your desire to be supportive to entrepreneurs.
Emphasis mine.
