Independent rating of General Catalyst VC fund
Overall rating:
23 reviews
About General Catalyst VC fund
Website:
Founded:
2000
Number of funds:
14
Number of investments:
995
Number of exits:
168
Headquarters:
Organization type:
Venture Capital
How General Catalyst VC fund invests
Rounds:
Average ticket size:
17.7M USD
Smallest investment:
824K USD
Biggest investment:
48.6M USD
Would lead round:
Yes
Would coinvest:
Yes
Countries where invested:
Sectors of interest:
Software, Internet, Information Technology, FinTech, mHealth, Venture Capital, Therapeutics, SaaS, Rental Property, Real Estate, Property Management, Product Design, Pharmaceutical, Online Portals, Mobile, Medical, Life Science, Legal Tech, Legal, Health Care, Financial Services, Financial Exchanges, Finance, Cyber Security, Cloud Infrastructure, Biotechnology, Biopharma, Accounting
Founders' reviews of General Catalyst VC fund
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Lack of Integrity Avoid Charlie Baker and Hemant
I had a series of meetings with Charlie Baker and Hemant for our post A round. We went through full diligence, but didn't close them, as they stated they couldn't support our valuation. Overall this experience was fine, as I would negatively review any for not wanting to give us money. The following Charlie joined the board of one of our largest, public competitors. Turns out that they have been friends for years.
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Avoid Chris Farmer and General Catalyst Information Thieves
Avoid General Catalyst and Chris Farmer.
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Sneaky People
Like others here, I got the sense they were mostly fishing for ideas from our pitch to share with some other company in their portfolio.
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Extremely Helpful
Gautam Gupta is extremely helpful
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Constantly Spamming Us....
These guys are constantly spamming me for meetings.... once every 2 weeks like clockwork.
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Treated Poorly
We did not think GCVP put any real thought in talking to us
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Avoid !
They dutifully investigated our business, then created from scratch an exact copycat of our company, 6 month later. Let me be clear: they did not invest in a competitor, they founded, managed (and funded, obviously) the copy cat!
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Understand Firm Intent
Like any fund, there are a wide variety of different personalities and skill levels represented by the partners and associates. General Catalyst has grown very fast and have some real inexperienced and unproven professionals in their ranks.
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As if Building a Great Company Wasn't Tough Enough
Unsolicited and repeated requests to meet and share what we were doing. We politely declined because we were told by numerous and credible sources in Boston that they are shifty, smarmy, and clearly on the prowl for competitive information. We all like to have our ego stroked, but credible VCs rarely contact you blind. They find someone that knows you to facilitate an introduction.
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Absolute Scum
They cold-called us the day after we were on CNET and a few of the high-profile blogs - eager to get us in their office for a meet and greet. We spoke with them 3 times, did some phone presentations (we're in different states), and they were completely loving it. But they kept on having scheduling conflicts on our avails, and eventually stopped returning emails and calls.
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We Pitched at Gc
We pitched our idea to Hemant at GC -- and I don't think we did a great pitch (it was our first pitch to a VC firm) so needless to say we did not get funded. I don't get the feeling that they were ready to act in our space but they are shopping and studying the market - so when they do see something exciting they can move ahead more quickly jump in to the game. This is just being smart as a buyer goes - there were no promises about coming in to pitch them and walking out with a check. By the same token - as we have to be smart buyers of the VC's services we would be bringing in a very long term partner in the early stages of running and building a company so the onus is on both of us to make sure that we sell our company to the right partner and they buy into an idea and company that yields a partnership that is right for them. That is the whole idea of the pitch and I don't think Hemant lead us to believe any differently. The fact that he met us and gave us honest feedback about his concerns over our pitch and company was more helpful than not.
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Treated with Respect
I recently had a call with one of the associates and was pleased with the level of respect and insight he provided. While Gautam ultimately passed on moving forward, he followed up with clear and concise reasoning and has made himself available as a sounding board in the future. While I still would hope to work with thier partnership, it was nice for once not to be blown off or mislead.
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Very Professional and Helpful
We made a pitch by phone to a Managing Director, who was very professional, insightful and helpful. Although our opportunity was not a fit for their portfolio, we received helpful feedback and a couple of names of other VCs who look at deals like ours.
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Competitive Intelligence Gathering
We pitched to David Orfao a few years back. I got the sense in the meeting they weren't being upfront with me about something. Sure enough, they announced an investment in our competitor within a few weeks.
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Jury Out
Money is there but can they bring partners to the table" George Bell has a strong network but unsure of other patrners/principals.
Should also beware of GC researching ideas for their incubation companies.
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Wasted Our Time
We had two phone calls and a presentation. We asked no less than a dozen times if our stage (pre-adoption) or location (not in Boston) were an issue. They kept telling us no and invited us out to pitch to a partner. Two days later we get an email that they are not comfortable investing in an pre-adoption company, particularly one not in Boston. Very very unprofessional and wasted our time.
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Very Cocky
An associate was supposed to call me to chat before I was scheduled to pitch at their office. The associate blew me off and then called me later to tell me to come into the office. He was supposed to meet me with John Simon.
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Picking Your Brain
It is pretty well known that they brought SideStep in to pick thier brains during thier process of founding kayak. This was something that really was out of line and should be recognized by any entrepreneur with a good business.
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Ouch.
They cold called us, and we pitched them last year knowing that they had a portfolio company in our general industry. We just found out yesterday that the portfolio company is launching a product just like ours. They did not really do anything wrong, but it still stings.
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Trend Chasers
George is a great guy and the team are good listeners.
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I Would Suggest Renaming Firm to 'Generic Capital'
I was contacted by Steve as they were very interested in hearing my pitch. He talked me into coming to their town on my dime. I also spent serious money on a hotel near their expensive offices. When I got the offices for our meeting, Steve and Joel didnt even allow me to pitch, instead bringing me to a couch where they proceeded to railroad me and not hear my plan or vision. Im an expert in both my field and online marketing, and deserved to be treated that way. In fact, if someone flys to see you at your request, spends $200 a night on a hotel, you should have the professionalism to allow them to actually DO their pitch. I wasnt allowed to, and was even belittled while there. Steve never followed up to my follow up email to him. Its very ironic because their website brags about how these guys will be a refreshing experience from how most investors treat enteprenuers. Quite the contrary, they were MY WORST experience of any of the 16 pitches we made accross the country. Beware of these guys, let them pay your airfare and hotel if they are really excited to meet you! They can afford it by the looks of their offices, and they really DONT really care about enteprenuers, as someone who has actually been there and met them.
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Smart and Straight Up
Spoke to them last year. They are very smart and ask great questions. I did not get funding, but I did get some very good advice. They are also good at follow-up and making sure they do not leave you hanging.
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One of the Newest a Players
Has a good track record of bringing in A-list (Redpoint, Sequoia) into deals they help originate. Founding partners are all A players. But hitting growing pains as they get larger -- new partners/principals not as strong and dealflow has gotten very slow.