RT Harj Taggar: It’s remarkable how true this is. Investing can be frustrating for every investor when you don’t win a deal but the high quality one...
Harj Taggar notes that high-quality investors never take it out on founders when they lose a deal, while low-quality ones routinely do by ranting about prices or founders being naive. This echoes a point by Conor Brennan-Burke that stronger investors treat founders better during fundraising because they are secure and heavily pre-filtered.
Background
- This is a tweet from Paul Graham (YC founder) quoting Harj Taggar (Y Combinator alumni, early Stripe employee, now a partner at early-stage VC firm Y Combinator). Both are central figures in the startup-investor ecosystem.
- The thread distinguishes "high quality" investors (who handle rejection gracefully) from "low quality" ones (who lash out at founders). This speaks to a well-known dynamic in startup fundraising: founders often have to deal with rude, condescending investors trying to signal power or negotiate down valuations.
- "Playing status games" refers to investors who use money or prestige to dominate founders rather than building a collaborative relationship — a frequent criticism in startup circles of certain types of VCs and angel investors.