Jeremy Tan Emphasizes That Founders Are Not Horses

Founders are not horses.

Yet not all VCs are structured to help, but to punt.

There's a simple way to fix this:

Align the incentives between founders and VCs.

Most VCs bet on MANY startups...
(at times too many)

All in hopes that a small few become unicorns 🦄 to carry their whole portfolio.

To be clear:

✅ There’s nothing wrong with diversifying.

🚫 Over-diversification and rushing to deploy funds however, misaligns the interests of founders and investors.

The unfortunate result?

In times of hardships,
When push comes to shove…
VCs end up having to focus on their ‘golden geese’ and deprioritise the rest.

I saw this in 2020 at the height of the pandemic. VCs were:
❌ Focused on short-term financial gains over long-term value creation
❌ Spread too thin across too many founders
❌ Missing specific expertise to go in-depth

Chasing for returns, some startups get left behind with little to no support.

We very often forget this:

Founders have only ONE bet.

Their company. 🎯

Investors conversely have plenty of bets. (sometimes 50-100 at a time)

When times are good, things work out.
When it's not, there are many casualties, layoffs and closures.

Better structures that align them:
✅ Fewer, higher conviction investments
✅ More attention for each startup
✅ Deeper expertise on sector focus for better value-add

At Tin Men Capital , we are continuously experimenting with better ways to add value to our portfolio founders.

To give them time and attention, we make focused, high-conviction bets.

It's not conventional, but it works for us and we're still able to reap venture returns. I believe it can work for others too.

Deeper relationships, and win-win partnerships help grow our startup ecosystem.

These are what we need more of to get through the volatile economic environment we’re in.

Founders are not horses.