VC horror stories shared by founders, with some naming names
A massive conversation has been taking place on X this week, where founders have shared VC horror stories. The conversation was started by Greg Isenberg, who reported that a GP at a top firm had fallen asleep during his pitch for a $15M Series A. The VC was out cold for over 30 minutes, yet nobody acknowledged it. This behaviour, it seems, is not uncommon. Several founders have since come forward with similar accounts. Zynga founder Mark Pincus also related a story where a VC fell asleep, comparing the situation to 'Weekend at Bernie's'. Interestingly, term sheets were still offered by some of these sleeping VCs. Liz Wessel, now a partner at First Round Capital, revealed that her team was offered a term sheet by a VC who had dozed off, but they refused it. The most alarming stories, however, were provided by Cloudflare's Matthew Prince. He claimed that a Sequoia partner had passed on Cloudflare because he didn't believe a woman could lead a security infrastructure company. Cloudflare is now valued at $87 billion. Prince also recounted an incident with prominent investor Vinod Khosla, who allegedly suggested that Prince fire his co-founders. Prince was so offended that he blocked Khosla's number. Nevertheless, Prince was quick to acknowledge Khosla's intelligence and track record, stating it was simply not a personality he would choose to work with. While many stories were negative, it should be noted that some founders reported having only great experiences with VCs. However, the consensus among the commenters was that poor experiences are far too common, and founders are no longer afraid to speak out.
Take a position. Out loud, if you can.
Four ways to start. Pick one and try saying it before you scroll on.
Tip · Record yourself, use in a notebook, or practice with a language partner.
What was the most common type of bad experience reported?
Passive Voice for reporting and focus
Passive voice is used to focus on the action or the receiver of the action, not the doer. It is common in formal writing and news.
“A massive conversation has been taking place on X this week, where founders have shared VC horror stories.”
What to know · B2
Try saying this aloud
Scenario: Report on a recent online discussion or trend at a meeting or in a presentation.
- 01“it has been reported that...”
- 02“it should be noted that...”
- 03“the consensus was that...”
Register tip · formal
🔑Key Phrases
This uses present perfect continuous passive ('has been taking place') to emphasize the ongoing nature of the discussion, a B2 structure.
present perfect continuous passive→A new hospital has been being built in the city for two years.
This uses past perfect ('had passed') in reported speech to show an action completed before another past action, a B2 narrative technique.
past perfect in reported speech→The manager claimed that the client had cancelled the order.
This uses a 'so... that' structure to express cause and effect, a B2-level subordinating conjunction pattern.
subordinating conjunction: 'so... that'→The movie was so boring that I fell asleep.
🎙️ Article Audio — Kokoro TTS
VC horror stories shared by founders, with some naming names
Adapted from TechCrunch · Read the original. LectoPress rewrites the facts as original graded-reader text for language learners.
Get stories at your level, every day
B2 · EN · delivered to your inbox · unsubscribe any time
Customize language, level & topics → full preferences
