"What does this post mean for His portfolio companies? That VCs are sharks and you should find a way to not need them asap?"
I think it means that as an entrepeneur in their portfolio, you need to understand your position on cash flow...as you are beholden to not simply yourselves any more.
"another chuckles at the irony that his own firm is famous for making some of the largest bets with the least proven companies(ie. lyft)."
Sure..that fits with Ben's (and Marc's) philosophy of investing. They like things that, on the outside, look crazy. In general, they look at the team, the market, the idea(s) <- the s is important, and the business model. They realize that not every original idea is what will actually be successful for that company. A LOT of successful companies original intents were something different. Paypal was a mobile to mobile payment system, GOOG was enterprisey search, etc.
I think the best hyperbolic quote about it is "We invest in college dropouts with insane ideas going after tiny markets with no way to monetize". Will they have misses? Absolutely, but from a macro perspective, they will have hits that will far outweigh those misses (skype, nicira, etc.)
"another chuckles at the irony that his own firm is famous for making some of the largest bets with the least proven companies(ie. lyft)." Sure..that fits with Ben's (and Marc's) philosophy of investing. They like things that, on the outside, look crazy. In general, they look at the team, the market, the idea(s) <- the s is important, and the business model. They realize that not every original idea is what will actually be successful for that company. A LOT of successful companies original intents were something different. Paypal was a mobile to mobile payment system, GOOG was enterprisey search, etc.
I think the best hyperbolic quote about it is "We invest in college dropouts with insane ideas going after tiny markets with no way to monetize". Will they have misses? Absolutely, but from a macro perspective, they will have hits that will far outweigh those misses (skype, nicira, etc.)