How many VCs would recommend raising money from VCs? The number might surprise you, clickbait headlines will say. Just 30 percent of the 160 VCs surveyed by change.vc network recommended VC financing to others.
One would think in a healthy industry people would suggest potential clients to use his or her industry’s services. Surely, there is a disclaimer: Change.vc calls itself “a movement created to shake up the old establishment and regenerate the industry to serve entrepreneurs and not the other way around.”
The same question was asked from around 300 entrepreneurs, and the results were very similar – at least 70 percent of entrepreneurs would tell you to stay away from venture capital, and more than 60 percent of them say that their experience with venture capital is far from positive.
And while they recommend avoiding VC financing, 71 percent of them would still ask for VC money.
So, what do entrepreneurs seek from VCs? Not surprisingly 54% of the entrepreneurs want VCs to start adding more value to their portfolio companies beyond financing and board seats. That would include a helping hand in finding contacts for further fundraising (57%), strategic guidance (53%) and business development intros (51%). It looks like operational expertise (27%) and talent intros (23%) are not their main priorities.
Change.vc is a movement powered by ACTIVE Venture Partners in partnership with Tech.eu, Unquote, Global Corporate Venturing, Foundum, Deutsche Startups, ArcticStartup, VCStartups, Rude Baguette, Loogic, Novobrief, Challengers, WhiteBull, Hamburg Startups and Barcelona Tech City.
It is targeting the entrepreneurial community and all other stakeholders of the startup ecosystem who want to participate in changing the venture capital industry together. The aim of the movement is to identify the pain points of entrepreneurs with respect to the current VC offering through a short survey and propose changes that lead to a new generation of VCs.
