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Ray Lane

GreatPoint Ventures

This Reviewer Says They Received Funding
Authority to Write Check:
Yes
Review Rating

4.25

1

How Well Do You Know This Investor?

One of the closest partners

1

I've worked with Ray for many years, and I would say my experience with him has been mixed. When I did my due diligence on him before signing the term sheet, I got one response that nails my feeling about him: "If he's on your side, you're lucky, but if he's against you, watch out." Other people I know who've worked with him would describe him as "from the old school VC mentality who are not founder friendly", which I would definitely agree with. My experience has been that Ray is a better operator than investor - which from his history makes sense. In the board room, he's effective at driving to the proper goals and forcing hard decisions - this is great. He's also very responsive and helpful when you need him - taking calls with you at all hours, making introductions, etc. He's also a believer in "tough love" where he seemingly adds a lot of pressure to you beyond what's necessary. The stress this added was unhelpful during a trying time in our company. As a trustworthy investor, I cannot give him good marks. The bottom line is that he wants the investment to perform at any cost, and if you guys are aligned everything is good, but I've experienced serious issues of founder-friendliness with him (very aggressive deal terms when we were in distress that other investors / founder friends told me were "old school"), and frankly I directly experienced serious ethical issues with his business dealings that have set my trust score here at 0. TL;DR: Ray cares about Ray. If you have to take his money, don't give him any control. If you have to, you'd better hit your plan and hope to reduce his control later and not rely on GPV to help with gap funding. I definitely would not take money from him (or anyone else at Great Point Ventures) again or suggest anyone else do the same.
Verified Investor Response:
Understands Market:
Responsive:
8
Respectful to Founders:
Decisive (Quick to Decision):
Adds Value:
7
Sharp/Pushes Thinking:
Cares About Equality:
I Trust This Investor:
1
No BS (Delivers):
Would You Recommend This Investor?
1
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