Verified Investor Response:
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I meet thousands of founders. Its hard to read reviews like this. BUT not knowing the context or what & who makes this hard to respond to. I think we all have off days. I tend to be very brutally direct when people ask about their startup, the sector, fundraising in the USA. Its not always well received but my intentions come from trying to be helpful when most investors in Silicon Valley respond with empty platitudes or general feedback that will not help the founder. I specifically remember a situation where a founder from SE Asia out of our Durians portfolio came with questions after taking an office hours meant for my new accelerator batch cos. He wanted to fundraise in USA and I said it was probably not a good idea because of how investors here in SV saw the space, their relatively low growth rate and lack of differentiation. I thought it was a helpful meeting. My colleague from SE Asia called me and told me they thought I was an arrogant jerk. I honestly was kind of surprised but understand their perspective, my approach is not common. I just hope founders do their research and ask the 400+ startups I've invested in. I would like to think most would like or think I am pretty helpful.