Founders share VC horror stories, and some are naming names

“I was once pitching in a board room at a top 3 VC firm for a $15M Series A. 12 people in the meeting. One of the GPs fully fell asleep. Out cold for 30+ minutes. Nobody acknowledged it. Everyone just kept going,” he shared on X.

VCs sleeping through pitch meetings was far and away the most common horror story shared. Not just drowsing, but full on zonked.

Zynga founder Mark Pincus told his VC-asleep story. “I looked at my friend who set up the meeting and asked if i should keep presenting and she said yes. It was ‘weekend at bernies’ meets Silicon Valley,” he wrote.

Interestingly, falling asleep didn’t mean the VC wouldn’t invest. Multiple founders reported receiving term sheets from partners who’d dozed off during the pitch.

“I once pitched a partnership in 2015 for our Series A where one partner (famous Midas lister) fell asleep & another couldn’t stop scowling. Got a call 2 hrs after the IC that they were sending a term sheet over,” wrote Liz Wessel. Wessel, who co-founded and sold HR startup WayUp and is now a partner at First Round Capital, said her team didn’t take the money — and that the VC was shocked.

There were so many stories about VCs sleeping that former a16z partner Arianna Simpson wrote, “Are VCs ok?? Narcolepsy appears to be running rampant.”

There were, of course, more than a few stories about VCs signing term sheets then pulling out last minute, or ghosting, never wiring the money. The even more galling part? Some of these VCs apparently went on to treat the founders like portfolio companies anyway, asking for company updates or to serve as a reference. One founder said the VC even wanted a share of the post-acquisition proceeds.

Travis Kalanick, the Uber co-founder renowned for his determination, told a story about discovering that a VC was attempting to ghost the meeting and leave the building. Kalanick said he followed the VC to his car and pitched from the passenger’s seat.

Not everyone had bad experiences to report. Some founders said they’ve never had anything but great experiences with VCs, with a few even sharing love stories about specific investors. Yes, most VCs are hardworking, genuinely try to be helpful, and don’t take naps during meetings. But poor experiences are so common that Pincus exclaimed, “I f*cking love this moment, when founders no longer have to be afraid to call out VCs for dumb behavior.”

Still, the stories that truly stunned were the ones posted by Cloudflare founder Matthew Prince. “A Sequoia partner passed on Cloudflare because he didn’t think a woman could lead a security infrastructure company