Venture Capital is about not making entrepreneurs cry

Win or lose, you shouldn’t get rattled in business. No company has ever succeeded if they wallow in self pity after a setback. But I think I just experienced the heartbreak of the month

Imagine yourself getting a haircut. Brookfield Place barber asks: “what do you do for a living?” I answer: “our firm backs entrepreneurs and finances growth companies.” Response: “oooh, just like on that show ‘Lion’s Den’?”

All I could bring myself to say was “no, we are not like Dragon’s Den. We don’t make people cry during their pitch.”

Attention venture capitalists across the land: it has come to this. As predicted, the public has come to confuse the theatre of CBC’s Dragon’s Den with the constructive and integral role that professional investors play in the early-stage economy. No wonder we’re having a hard time getting traction in Ottawa with the CVCA’s Commercialization Support Program.

MRM