Thread by @dunkhippo33

Today's tweet thread is on playing long term games in business and what that means.

Read on >>

1) Yesterday I tweeted this -- it was deliberately vague.

From the perspective of building relationships with ppl, I often see ppl in startup ecosystems playing short term games, when really they are just shooting themselves in the foot:

https://twitter.com/dunkhippo33/status/1396713585598889984?s=20

2) For example, one of my founders asked me today for an intro to a well-known VC.

I'm connected to him on LinkedIn but I told her about my interactions with him.

3) When he asked to meet me a few yrs ago, he ended up switching our meeting *several times* -- time / date / place.

Finally, the last time he asked to switch the mtg I told his admin it seemed like he didn't really see the mtg as high priority & we should cancel altogether.

4) His admin tried to save the mtg by telling me he had a plumbing emergency at his house. Simultaneously, this VC emailed me trying to save the mtg by saying he was stuck in a long mtg w a "portfolio company".

That was pretty shortsighted.

5) In fact, I have a TON of examples of VCs who ghosted me multiple times or treated me w/ disrespect when I was a founder. They all played the short game.

I'm not sure any of them saw that the next wave of emerging managers would be the same ppl who pitched them.

6) The flip side is also true. There are some (not a lot) VCs whom I really respect. Many of these ppl passed on my company & that's ok!

The key thing is they treated me w respect - as a human being.

These are the ppl I recommend.

VCs say no a lot. But how you say no is key.

7) And it works in other ways as well.

In the startup journey, a lot of ppl will tell you no. Investors. Potential hires. Business partners.

But it's rarely personal. You will get multiple shots at changing some of those nos to yeses if you play the long term game.

8) Some of these ppl who said no to investing in my company said yes to us @HustleFundVC as LPs. Some ppl who said no to our Fund 1 said yes on Fund 2.

A no is not forever. It's not personal either.

9) Outside of investing, another specific example is that I tried to recruit @shiyankoh to join me at my startup yrs ago.

She went to work w @timchen82 @iamjakestream @NerdWallet instead (which was the much better decision on her part!)

10) Of course, I was disappointed. But you get many shots to work w/ ppl. If not now, then later. If not on this venture, the next one. Just like how fundraising is a long term game, hiring is a long term game as well.

11) There have also been many founders we said no to initially but later were so grateful when they re-approached us to pitch us again and we said yes.

Whether on the same venture or a diff one - sometimes it just takes a while for things to align right.

12) Sometimes playing the long game means making sure that ppl feel great about the situation, even if you could've technically and legally optimized for a better deal.

I wrote about that here:

https://twitter.com/dunkhippo33/status/1395910721666314241?s=20

13) This is because you may be doing *many* transactions w/ a party in your life - even if you don't know it yet.

If you were only doing 1 transaction, you'd want to optimize the best deal you can get. But in a potential multi-turn game, that isn't the best strategy.

14) Traditionally, when I think about the startup landscape, I think of transactional ppl.

But as we move into the next era - where there's more choice for startups & investors - the successful ones are playing multi-turn games.

Esp as founders become investors & vice versa.