VC公司的品牌重要吗？ 合伙人, 曙光, 幸运

toudale

by ReachVC 桂曙光

假设你足够幸运，有好几家VC都给你提供了Term Sheet供你挑选。那你在做出决定的时候，VC公司的品牌占多大的分量？我想答案是：有点儿分量，但会比大部分人想象中要少很多。

首先，给你出具Term Sheet的VC合伙人的好坏会更重要。但是，依我的经验，VC公司的品牌跟VC合伙人的好坏没有太多的关联性。知名的VC公司里有很糟糕的VC合伙人，不知名的VC公司里也有很了不起的VC合伙人。

我认为只有在两种情况下，VC公司的品牌才真的很重要。首先，如果你设法从Top 5之类的知名VC那里融到资，那你几乎确保可以从其他VC公司那里以更高的价格进行后续融资。实际上，有不少VC公司的经营模式就是简单地跟随那些顶级 VC。

另外一种VC品牌有帮助的方式是，它可以让你在招聘员工是有可信度，如果你还是初次创业者、公司处于早期阶段更是如此。如果你已经是成功的创业者了，或者公司已经很有吸引力了，VC品牌作用就小多了。

在我看来，VC品牌的重要性仅此而已。有很多创业者错误地认为，他们从知名VC那里融到资是一件很了不起的事情。要记住，如果你融到了一笔种子资金，投资公司的品牌越好，那么这家投资公司在你做后续融资时要是不追加投资的话，你就越麻烦。



原文：
Does a VC’s brand matter?

by chris Dixon

Suppose you are in the enviable position of choosing between offers from multiple VC firms.  How much should you weigh the brand of the VCs when making your decision?  I think the answer is:  a little, but a lot less than most people assume.

First, let me say the quality of the individual partner making the offer matters a lot.  However, in my experience, there is a only rough correlation between a VC’s brand and the quality of the individual partners there.  There are toxic partners at brand name firms, and great partners at lesser known firms.

There are only two situations I can think of where the firm’s brand really matters.   First, if you manage to raise money from a particular set of the top 5 or so firms, you are almost guaranteed to be able to raise money later at a higher valuation from other firms. In fact, there are VC firms whose explicit business model is simply to follow those top firms.

The other way a VC firm’s brand can help is by giving you credibility when recruiting employees.  This matters especially if you are a first-time entrepreneur whose company is at an early stage.  It matters a lot less if you’re a proven entrepreneur or your company already has traction.

In my opinion that’s about it in terms of the importance of the VC’s brand.  Too many entrepreneurs get seduced into thinking they’ve accomplished something significant by raising money from a name brand VC.  Also, remember that if you are raising a seed round, the better the firm is, the worse it can actually be for you if that firm decides not to participate in follow on rounds.