Startup Experts Share Their Investor Horror Stories

TL;DR

The video recounts YC partners' worst investor meetings—including a VC who smoked, ate lunch, and picked his feet during a pitch; a founder who flew to Chicago for a meeting with associates who had no check-writing power; and a candy-wrapper test meant to distract the pitcher.

Key insights

• Investors who play status games (e.g., making founders wait, eating during meetings, smoking in a closed office, opening candy wrappers slowly as a distraction) signal they are not the right partner,
• A meeting with a famous VC that devolves into unrelated topics (e.g., testing a founder’s Chinese language ability) is a strong indicator the investor is not interested in the business.
• The worst investor meeting can make founders question why they are building the company; emotional discouragement is a real risk.