I’ve been wanting to write this post for a while, as it’s something I’ve often stewed about (when in truth I shouldn’t).
There are a lot of charlatans in the startup journey.
Charlatans that claim to be angel investors, but haven’t written a check in years, if ever.
Charlatans that claim to be working on their startup.
Charlatans that will happily advise your startup, because they know The Way.
Charlatans that say their startup will beat yours.
Charlatans that go on stage, beat their chest, and it turns out there’s nothing behind the curtains.
Charlatans with “tons of contacts” that want to do business development.
Charlatans in VC firms, that have no fund to make new investments out of.
Charlatans will waste your time. Charlatans will get your hopes up. Charlatans will give you bad data.
I wish it were socially acceptable to call these people out in anything more public than a 1-1 conversation or reference check. Sometimes it’s not their fault, they don’t realize it.
But as soon as your BS meter starts going up, run. Charlatans are everywhere.