‘Entrepreneur In Residence’ Used To Be One Of Silicon Valley’s Most Prestigious Titles. Now It’s Dead.
Buying Talent Is More Attractive Than Renting In Today’s Competitive Venture Market
Imagine getting paid a solid salary to sit around and think up new startup ideas, distracted only by the free food and opportunities to sit in on discussions of the latest, hottest technologies. Well, if you were an Entrepreneur-In-Residence at one of the large Silicon Valley venture firms during the last few decades, that was your gig. The quid pro quo was that if you settled on an idea that the firm found to be fundable, you’d give them first shot at backing you, although not necessarily exclusively and certainly not contractually. It was more of an unwritten rule. Repeat entrepreneurs and departing big tech company execs would often do pitstops as EIRs, sometimes even simultaneously at two firms (otherwise known as the circa 2008 Jeff Weiner Flex). But now in 2021 you rarely hear about EIRs and they’re certainly not the golden prize of previous years. Why is this?
VCs think WHY RENT WHEN YOU CAN BUY? In today’s market, where there’s limitless capital chasing “consensus startups” the risk of waiting to write a termsheet is too great. If you believe enough in a founder to invite them to be an EIR you might as…
