Leaked emails reveal war of words over ‘secret’ meetings where anti-competitive behavior was allegedly discussed
There’s a food fight brewing in the home of über capitalism among some of the biggest and best-known angel investors in the tech industry.
The dispute began when TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington, who covers the scene, blogged about a meeting of ‘ten or so of the highest-profile angel investors in Silicon Valley’ where discussions on limiting valuations and excluding competitors (aka price fixing and anti-competitive collusion) were reportedly discussed.
Arrington followed that explosive post by releasing an email he obtained from Ron Conway, Silicon Valley’s highest-profile super angel. Conway had not attended the meeting, but got a rundown on the event from a colleague. In the email, he chastised his fellow investors who had attended.
‘The world of startups would be a better place if you spent less time complaining about deal structures, terms, vc’s, and valuations etc, and the cars you drive, and just helped entrepreneurs build their companies,’ wrote Conway.
That prompted an impassioned response from fellow angel Chris Sacca, whose email back to Conway was also leaked and posted online. Sacca began the email by lavishly praising his mentor, before chastising him for criticizing his fellow angels without having attended the meeting in question.
Sacca said there was no point in colluding against entrepreneurs as, if investors did, ‘it would be broadcast immediately and the resulting blog posts would be permanently attached to a search on our names.’
‘I wish you had been at those dinners,’ he continued. ‘First, I am sure you would have had helpful input. But, more importantly, you would have instead seen your peers working, as they have always done, to… continue to restore the purity and honor a decade of misaligned interests has left here.’
One long time tech analyst and investor, now retired, observes that the brouhaha is not surprising. ‘Things are not back to normal yet. Lots of people got squeezed,’ he tells IR magazine.
Several YouTube parodies are already up, but only bloggers and local business press have picked up on the story so far. Given the names, players and egos, however, this is an argument that promises to continue.
It’s amusing to note that many of the Silicon Valley angels involved helped create the social media ecosystem that is making this argument hard to keep quiet.
