If VCs Understood UX…

Sorry, but this is another ball that falls in the designer's court (yep, I'm a designer). You have to educate people on the value of these things. People, regardless of their proximity to the web, do not inherently understand what's listed here.<p>It's a waste of time to "call them out" when instead, you could write a friendly email sharing your knowledge or writing posts that speak in VC terms, but still articulate your points.<p>It's frustrating when people don't understand something, sure. But I bet you could get a lot of VCs inline with your vision if you taught them, not scolded them.

The conclusion contradicts itself. If VCs erred in selecting their companies, then in consquence they will lose and cease to exist. The fact that VCs exist and thrive proves that they are following what is right for them. Now that right may not be right for everybody and the world which is something to ponder.

Yes, this is what they would do if they understood UX. But that’s not what VCs are for.<p>What VCs really would do if they understood UX the way the OP implies is build a firm that tries to invest in slowly growing, sustainable companies, with extremely long term outlook and real, sometimes un-measurable value to all stakeholders. Arguably the underlying mantra “small is beautiful” is not one for the VC industry. Also, these will not be companies that can be sold easily or timely (much less at crazy valuations due to cancerous growth), so the VCs themselves would not be very successful.<p>There’s a conundrum for an investor in building these kinds of companies: in comparison to their peers, they would most likely make less money (given the same kind of investment process, style, mechanism). That’s why bootstrapped companies with little to no outside funding can stay more focused, more consumer and employee friendly, and thus, more “integer”.<p>What the VC needs is a longer time horizon, lower exit expectations, and more leeway for the entrepreneurs they back in several categories. Now, the good news is some firms are thinking more and more like that, and also the general industry shifts allow more companies to be bootstrapped to work without or with only little outside capital.<p>Firms that seem to operate this way are the likes of Betaworks, OATV, and a few angel funds, mostly in New York and SF.<p>Industry shifts that help are the ease of develop&#38;deploy of today’s technology, developer led companies that can build their own product without much capital, and the very easily accessible, and scalable, <i></i>international market<i></i> of app stores, webapps, and creative business models.<p>If you don’t like VCs, you can build your company without them. If you want to keep working on your own terms, you can. If you talk about disrupting, don’t just disrupt the industry your product serves, also take advantages of the disruption in the industry serves you.<p>Disclaimer: I do not think VCs are that bad, and I certainly know tons of awesome VCs that understand UX. Like, for real.

If your grand, quixotic fantasy is for VCs to understand UX, imagine how wild it is when programmers wish that VCs understood technology!

This post seems to assume that VCs are out for the greater good of the world. I don't think they are and they shouldn't be. They are out to maximize returns for their members through savvy investment.

This is a lot of interesting separate points pointing to a completely inane larger point.<p>VC's, good ones especially, offer help and guidance but don't have ANYTHING near parental control over their companies. They invest, then they try to help but that's it.<p>Beyond that, weird generalization about VC funded companies to say they're all building things that don't matter. As a percentage they mostly don't matter and they mostly fail, but many of them become things people care passionately about and matter a great deal.

Normally, if an investment goes bust the VCs are the people who get their money+ back, so don't tell me about how operating for their own good is how we've come to this pass. The only point that VCs will agree on is that they make <i>more</i> money if the company succeeds (and I can't imagine how anyone believes that the VC doesn't take a role in running a company; the infamous "getting rid of the founders and bringing in the grownups" stage is driven entirely by VCs, and all VCs take <i>some</i> role in running the company which varies among them as to how hands on they are). Yes, they need to be educated, but if you can't put it in very direct terms of "this will make you more money, fast" then they tend to put their fingers in their ears and ignore you. They are NOT about the long run; they're about the exit strategy.<p>I've worked with a lot of VCs over the years (and I'm a UX consultant too) and telling them about a fast enough ROI to make a difference to them is extremely difficult.<p>I've worked with even more start-ups who brought me in despite a lack of interest on their VCs part, because <i>they</i> wanted to build a product that was as good as possible and they were in it for the long haul.<p>As for friendly emails explaining and sharing...I think I covered that above under "they don't care".

Classic case of it's not the content, it's the delivery. And the delivery belies a combination of ignorance (of what/how/why vc's do) and arrogance (about the value of any one discipline - in this case UX), likely covering a feeling of inadequacy or unrecognized privilege (that's a bit harsh - but usually true - myself included).<p>And then again... this is the state of most of what's written... just easier to spot when delivered in this way.

<i>[they would]…care about people, not percentages..</i><p>Right, so they'd magically stop caring about money? They may understand UX perfectly well, but also understand that prioritising it isn't good for profits.<p>I wish we lived in a world where everything would survive or die based on the merits of it's contribution to the world. We do not.

Great design is widely empathetic and desirable.<p>Process is a luxury, and you earn the freedom to engage in it through producing good work. Remain focussed on that and you wont need to waste time deriding people who don't understand the value of what you do.

Thanks everyone for your thoughts on my VCs and UX post. I'd love it if you shared your perspectives in the comments on my blog as well as there's an interesting discussion developing there. Thank you!