And so, I want to be on record-and I think you can really have that kind of empathy if you have only really been there sometimes-and I want to be on record for founders to know that is the mantle I want to stand on. In fact, when I ask other entrepreneurs, “If you could control the future of your company forever, would you take a 30% reduction in valuation?” most of them say yes. The real entrepreneurs care more about control than they do about like optimizing economics by, say, 10%. I had a term sheet from a much higher, well-known VC fund, one of the top three of all time, at a higher valuation for less dilution, and I went with Founders Fund, primarily because they were on record of being founder-friendly, and that’s me. Founders Fund in 2010 was not nearly the Founders Fund it is today. I think that’s something that was very important for ZocDoc getting to where it got to, and it’s something I want to do as well. So part of what I’m going to be doing with entrepreneurs is following in their footsteps and literally being a very founder-oriented fund. Often times I felt in building ZocDoc, I had their protection, which enabled me to focus all of my efforts forward as opposed to looking behind my back. They literally just picked time getting to know who the great founders are, and they back them, no matter what. One of the things that I very much value in Founder Fund’s approach is their philosophy that the greatest companies will be founder-led. Founders Fund for example has been a huge supporter of ZocDoc. If I could just do that-if I could give one talented employee to every single one of our portfolio companies once a year-I will be the most helpful investor they have, full stop. My aspiration both as an entrepreneur and as an investor is, I really want to be New York’s best recruiter, period.
Cyrus Massoumi: The most helpful thing that an investor can do for an entrepreneur is connecting them to great people, and then taking them to experts and connecting them to early customers and partners.
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