The VC & Marriage Path:

Men and women are two different species whose communication is still @ infancy - Bill Cosby.

Like men and women, entrepreneur and VC are two different species, their ideas are different and their goals are different. Men think about sex, women think about gifts. Entrepreneurs think about the growth, VC think about returns. After all these differences still marriage is possible.

Like marriage brings attachment, commitment, food, caring and responsibility, VC fund also brings few things like Acceleration, etc…

On a lighter note:

Marriage(Woman In Your Life)	VC Fund
Growth	Acceleration
No need to worry daily(Food), only monthly worries	No need worry monthly only quarterly worries.
Helping hand for the bright future	Help with future rounds.
Peacefulness	Competition
Respect in the society. (Pls compare with live-in relationship)	Image
Stability	Stability
Second Salary	Hands on Help (Nice to Have)
Help In Taking Care	Help in Recruiting (Nice to have)

Like men, entrepreneurs are always thinks about Cost, Control, and Confidentiality. VC's always think about Validations, Scale and sustainability and a great exit.

Few more points:

1. 1. Bedrock for things to work in both is communication - be upfront and clear.

2. 2. If things work its heaven. if they don't its hell. Usually both are experienced alternatively in both cases.

3. 3. At marriage vows are made and after marriage they're broken every day but marriage still survives as long as breaks are not huge. It’s just too inconvenient to divorce! Similarly revenue/profit projections are made at funding and they are hardly ever met (plus or minus) but co still survives as long as negative deviations are not huge. It’s just too inconvenient to liquidate!

PJ: VCs are worse - they want returns from entrepreneurs (who can be women as well) ..hehe

Sorry If I am biased towards any particular gender.

Joke: The VC and entrepreneur are always ready for the marriage. But the problem is VC wants decide who is bride, who is the groom.

Note: Special thanks to Suresh Narasimha (CEO of Telebramha) for instigating these thoughts. He was speaking at NASSCOM product conclave about VC Path.