The venture capital world just got a very public reality check. A massive viral conversation on X this week has founders sharing their worst VC pitching nightmares.
It all started when Greg Isenberg, a startup podcaster and founder of Late Checkout Studio, shared a story: a general partner at a top-three VC firm fell completely asleep during his $15M Series A pitch. Not a quick nap. Out cold for 30+ minutes while 12 people sat in the boardroom. Nobody said a word.
That story opened the floodgates. Zynga founder Mark Pincus jumped in with his own sleeping-VC tale, comparing the moment to "Weekend at Bernie's meets Silicon Valley." Some VCs dozed off and still sent term sheets. Liz Wessel, who co-founded WayUp and now partners at First Round Capital, pitched to a famous Midas-list investor who was snoring while another partner scowled the entire time. Two hours after the investment committee meeting, they sent a term sheet—which Wessel's team rejected. The VC was apparently shocked.
Former a16z partner Arianna Simpson tweeted: "Are VCs ok?? Narcolepsy appears to be running rampant."
But the sleeping stories weren't the wildest part. Some founders reported VCs signing term sheets, then ghosting them entirely. These same investors kept asking for company updates and wanted cuts of post-acquisition proceeds.
Then there's Travis Kalanick. The Uber co-founder followed an investor to his car when the VC tried to leave mid-meeting and pitched from the passenger seat.
The viral thread on TechCrunch documents behavior that appears systemic across the VC world. Though some founders did share positive experiences with investors, the volume of horror stories suggests serious dysfunction in how capital is raised.
The internet is responding with disbelief.
