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Releasing an almost-3,000-page expose on private equity this week. It's hard to argue against those who say private equity ruins everything. It's astonishing.
by MarkusAllen 8mo ago
Releasing an almost-3,000-page expose on private equity this week.
It's hard to argue against those who say private equity ruins everything. It's astonishing. And massively depressing.
You can download for free when you search the 'net for Founderstowne.
- Imustaskforhelp 8mo agoWait so are you doing the journalistic action? I can't wait for this to drop. Please give me more details if possible. Massive respects to your journalism, I have a lot of questions regarding this tho, namely how long did it take you to build this expose and where are you gonna drop it because I searched net for Founderstowne but I didn't find anything special, are they the VC fund you are gonna expose?
- MarkusAllen 8mo agoCan I post a direct link here... don't want to be accused of spam? I expose just about everyone as a "roman a clef" (a work of "fiction":>). I'm 58 years old. Entrepreneurial builder. Disgusted by VC/PE. Been writing this book since 1987.
- MarkusAllen 8mo agoThe direct link is: https://www.Founderstowne.com https://www.Founderstowne.com
- defrost 8mo agoIt's not a peak HN submit time, that said: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46572285 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46572285
- MarkusAllen 8mo agoI see an empty post.
- defrost 8mo agoIt's been submitted and will remain empty of comments until a HN user comments. I see a post with 13 points (upvotes / positive reactions) and [flagged] (meaning the title alone upset a few people given there's been no time to read the content yet). As with all HN submissions, YMMV - Your Mileage May Vary
- CamelCaseName 8mo agoSure, why not, share your work! Also, the two links in your profile do not work
- MarkusAllen 8mo agoJust updated. Thanks for the heads up.
- FloorEgg 8mo agoAfter my first startup failed (didn't get PM fit) I got a bit obsessed with how to do good market research for innovation. Discovery interviews, JTBD, etc. During my journey I took a beat and pointed my new skills at VCs. I interviewed a few dozen VCs trying to understand what they were trying to get done and what mattered to them, but with a bit of a bias trying to gauge whether they wanted to better predict market demand of their portfolio or prospective investments' products. What I learned shocked me a bit. The sense I got was that they didn't really care about market demand or building a strong business, they mostly cared if the founder could sell the company up to food chain (series a, b, c etc). Roughly speaking: "I don't care what value my portfolio companies create, I care about marking up my book so I can increase my take". I don't know how much this had to do with ZIRP, but it really soured me to the VC industry. I've been committed to bootstrapping my companies ever since.
- packeted 8mo agoI'm looking forward to reading your book! Part of my expose of PE in the veterinary business can be found at https://www.privateequityvet.org https://www.privateequityvet.org
- MarkusAllen 8mo agoWish I had your knowledge before writing... Pages in my book related to how private-equity screwed over the vet industry: 250. 442. 1001. I think people will be blown away that the company that makes M&Ms owns a ton of vets.
- like_any_other 8mo agoPlease name names when you do.
- MarkusAllen 8mo agoI name names. (Mostly.) When I get sued (and I will), I'll employ "roman a clef" and slightly fictionalize the names. By the way, VCs are not exactly any better than PE firms. I've tried to reach out Marc Andreesen to see if he can 100% pivot to building instead of extracting. I'm encouraged by his latest fund.
- fc417fc802 8mo agoJust a heads up. Oftentimes legally speaking a facade will only work if you haven't yet been found at fault. And even if you know for a fact that you aren't at fault, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure and all that. The legal process isn't exactly cheap.