Support vs. Critique

The right balance between support and critique is a moving target for every founder and excellence as a VC is finding it.

The right balance between support and critique is a moving target for every founder and excellence as a VC is finding it.

At First Round we promise founders 2 things:

1. Unvarnished opinions

2. Unwavering support

Delivering these two things takes real work and the work grows out of the fundamental belief in founders, their role as owners of their companies and the unique insight that can only come from them. We have to find the best way to tell our truth so it is heard — and then, no matter what the founder decides to do, we have to do our best to make their chosen strategy successful. After all it’s their company.

Unvarnished opinions are critique delivered with radical candor. This work digs into root causes and first principles. It is questioning assumptions and challenging current operating paradigms. It is pushing founders to view their business in a different and often uncomfortable light. It is helping founders evaluate their teammates with a new and often more critical lens. It is consistently asking CEOs to reflect on their performance and often surfacing areas that require change.

It is hard. It requires trust.

Unwavering support is empathy delivered with resources to support success. These conversations are rooted in a shared history and longitudinal view of the company from the seed stage. It is revisiting original visions and remembering North Stars. This work comes with an underpinning of resources, services, connections and knowledge that helps the founder move faster toward their goal and supports them to execute their strategy more efficiently.

It is always on. It requires care.

Over the last 8 years I have realized that unvarnished opinions and unwavering support are necessary but not sufficient ingredients to me doing a good job as an investor. It is the balance of the two that cradles my success.

This balance between support and critique can be difficult to find. Sometimes conversations seem to flip back and forth between critique and support with each sentence and other times phases of a relationship or a stage in a founder’s growth are defined by either critique or support. This is especially challenging when I believe a founder needs one thing but they are more open and interested in the other.

I have had founders who want to tear apart their plans and rethink everything from first principles at the exact moment I think they should double down on their current strategy and use the single sharp blade they have built. Also, I have worked with founders who only want to hear support. They believe that optimism and cheerleading is all they need at a time when I think the most valuable role I can play is the vocal skeptic. In these moments, I have to decide: support vs. critique. Do I select the path of delivering what is requested or the path of pushing where it is unwanted (but may be necessary).

Obviously, I don’t always get it right and the failure of delivering too much support or critique haunts me. The thing I am committed to is continuing to seek the balance. The thing I am proud of is having strong enough relationships with founders to allow for mistakes (on both sides.)