Turning a Failed Startup into a VC Job

This afternoon I had the opportunity to talk with a young entrepreneur turned VC. After getting his MBA from a prestigious school he moved out west to try his hand at a technology startup. For the first nine months he worked on his own dime before he quickly raised a bit under $1 million from a traditional venture fund that lead the seed round, a couple professors from B-school, an individual angel investor, and some family members.

With 90% of the money spent, one pivot, and three theses proved wrong, he shutdown the startup and returned the remaining money to the investors. I asked about the experience, specifically how the angel investors felt once the startup was shutdown. He said he felt bad but moved on quickly. The VC fund said they’d back him again and the angel investors understood it doesn’t always work out.

The angel investors were sent a nice bottle of wine and life moved on.

A month later he joined a different VC firm and put entrepreneurship behind him.