When the Series A check clears, most startups send out a
bragging press release, the equivalent of flashing your grill.
The VC backing is supposed to mean that the company has
experienced hands in its corner. That it’s financially solid. A
shoe-in for a puff profile piece in a magazine. Eligible for
lunch conversation in Silicon Valley.  But if customers actually
think about what a venture capital injection entails, it’s not
all California Love. The company’s cash concerns might have
(temporarily) vanished, but they’re replaced with a new list of
problems. As a user you might be looking at any one of the
following:  1. The Pivot Sure, the product as described today
sounds great, but if that hockey-stick growth pattern doesn’t
emerge in six months, the product you wasted your time and money
on might quickly turn into something else entirely.  2. The
Talent Acquisition Big companies like Google love to buy small
bands of developers their VC friends tell them about (the risk
easily triples if said band comes wit