Sarah Lacy vs. Arnon Kohavis
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Stephan February
Dec 26, 2011, 9:50:46 PM12/26/11
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Yikes! Sarah Lacy just ripped this VC a new one : http://bit.ly/soNduL
… and she says he's headed for Singapore! O_O
Cheers
Stephan
Benjamin Scherrey
Dec 27, 2011, 5:44:00 AM12/27/11
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Yeah but I didn't get exactly what the guy did but show up in S. America, build up (and probably buy into) some hype & leave. Her post implied some people gave him money but I didn't hear any details of that. Naturally there's a lot of arrogance and wasted time - but I encountered that with most "VCs" I initially ran into in SG back in 2009. So many were there clearly with no intent to write checks (any deal they would go for wouldn't be one offered to them anyway) but rather enjoyed having their egos massaged. So I'm not sure what precise beef she has with the guy except disappointment. And to that I say caveat emptor.
-- Ben
Stephan
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Gibson Tang
Dec 27, 2011, 5:49:12 AM12/27/11
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I wonder if any folks from EDB or any 3 lettered acronym government agency are right now listening to his pitch?
Sent from my iPhone
Sent from my iPhone
Thomas Gorissen
Dec 27, 2011, 8:10:25 AM12/27/11
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Soso... Well, a few things.
Sarah says in a very energetic way that Kohavi is actually looking to
turn a buck with his tech fund concept more than actually helping tech
entrepreneurs in Latin America. And from all that I've read, she is
most certainly right. Blaming Chile for not being "ready" for high-
growth entrepreneurship on a bigger scale is a pretty bad excuse,
although Kohavi has a valid point claiming that the concept he had in
mind doesn't work there, yet (I had my own 2 years tech
entrepreneurship experience in Latin America ;)). It takes quite
something for a country to get to the level where a tech VC fund make
sense. His decision to give his tech fund concept up because of a lack
of support from the elite makes sense to me. If he really wanted to
help, he would have found another concept that will work for
entrepreneurs in Chile. He will find a better infrastructure here in
Singapore.
I think nobody needs to fear him, but he seems to be having his idea
of a fund in mind and is *surprise* trying to make money with it
without too much pain involved. The only thing for him to consider
from my perspective is to actually put the intent to help
entrepreneurs first. The "making money" will come as a result. Even if
that means he has to reevaluate how he wants to help. Otherwise he
might be flying around a lot more in the future ;)
-- Thomas
On Dec 27, 10:50 am, Stephan February <stephan.febru...@gmail.com>
wrote:
Sarah says in a very energetic way that Kohavi is actually looking to
turn a buck with his tech fund concept more than actually helping tech
entrepreneurs in Latin America. And from all that I've read, she is
most certainly right. Blaming Chile for not being "ready" for high-
growth entrepreneurship on a bigger scale is a pretty bad excuse,
although Kohavi has a valid point claiming that the concept he had in
mind doesn't work there, yet (I had my own 2 years tech
entrepreneurship experience in Latin America ;)). It takes quite
something for a country to get to the level where a tech VC fund make
sense. His decision to give his tech fund concept up because of a lack
of support from the elite makes sense to me. If he really wanted to
help, he would have found another concept that will work for
entrepreneurs in Chile. He will find a better infrastructure here in
Singapore.
I think nobody needs to fear him, but he seems to be having his idea
of a fund in mind and is *surprise* trying to make money with it
without too much pain involved. The only thing for him to consider
from my perspective is to actually put the intent to help
entrepreneurs first. The "making money" will come as a result. Even if
that means he has to reevaluate how he wants to help. Otherwise he
might be flying around a lot more in the future ;)
-- Thomas
On Dec 27, 10:50 am, Stephan February <stephan.febru...@gmail.com>
wrote:
Meng Weng Wong
Dec 27, 2011, 10:05:10 AM12/27/11
to hacker...@googlegroups.com, Meng Weng Wong
Gideon Simons
Dec 27, 2011, 11:34:25 AM12/27/11
to hacker...@googlegroups.com, Meng Weng Wong
Quite a poorly written and unprofessional rant article. I totally agree with Ben, this guy spent 6 months in Chile, heard all the pitches got a deep understanding and impression and decided its not worth his risk.
Sarah, did Arnon Kohavi stand you up when you were a teenager?
Gideon Simons
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Gideon
On Tue, Dec 27, 2011 at 11:05 PM, Meng Weng Wong <meng...@gmail.com> wrote:
http://www.budsas.org/ebud/ebdha090.htm
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Gideon
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