This is part of my Series on Entrepreneurial Culture.
Very recently I shared my thoughts about why serious entrepreneurs should get it out of their heads that startups are some kind of fashion show. It's certainly easy enough to be lured onto that vapid and self-congratulatory bandwagon where it's all about being seen at the coolest parties, working the press, and pitching VC's. In other words- anything and everything but building a real business.
The subsequent emergence of the so-called Russian Spy Scandal featuring the "red-headed bombshell" (Anna "Chapman" (nee Kushcenko)), only reinforced my point in dramatic fashion. Here was another instance of the self-anointed "entrepreneur" developing great fluency in the "lingo" of entrepreneurship, going to the right parties and generally hanging around the hoop- but who actually has no real business beneath the veneer. The fact that she also happened to be a very attractive Russian spy might certainly add a flair of the dramatic- but let's face it- her "cover" was but one of many put forth by what I can only call "faux entrepreneurs" and other types of poseurs roaming the startup scene.
Poseurs are one thing- but a while back I also wrote this post touching upon a more pernicious and predatory character, and I titled it: Eyes Wide Shut: Welcome to the Masked Ball with my perfunctory clip from the late/great Kubrick's last film of the same name. On a lark, the protagonist in the film falls into a lush, intriguing world in which he finds himself surrounded by dozens of haunting and masked figures. It is exhilarating for him- but of course he soon finds himself 'in way over his head'. So too, said I in my post, does the young, uninitiated entrepreneur who attends seemingly wonderful entrepreneurial gatherings only to run into the charming and unscrupulous "broker-dealer" posing as a veteran entrepreneur. Yes- this older and wizened figure will now serve as the "benevolent guide" to the young apprentice.... (who now of course also enters into a parallel world of hurt!).
So let me be clear that I am not writing this piece to pick on Anna "Chapman" Kushchenko per se- nor am I too worried about her future for that matter. She is young and resourceful and will no doubt land on her feet. Take your cue if you must from the "real Chapman", her newly wise ex-husband in England, who, when contacted by the Daily Telegraph about her recent arrest stated unequivocally that "it wasn't that much of a surprise to be honest". If you need more convincing of her talent for self-preservation and survival, just watch her holding forth quite convincingly and fetchingly about the
challenges and thrills of being an entrepreneur right here. (I may be mistaken, but Silicon Alley Insider also seems to have also snapped-up her proferred bait 'hook-line-and-sinker' at some point and published a readable (although cliche-ridden piece) she authored about how to "deal with angel investors"- no doubt impressed by this beautiful up-and-coming entrepreneur.)
What I do mean to focus on, is how earnest and well-intentioned folks out there who are starting new businesses can avoid getting preyed upon not by beautiful Russian spies- but rather by the cadre of American-born bottom-feeders out there that take advantage of their naivete and insecurities about launching a new venture, raising money, etc. Efforts towards this goal are already underway thankfully. Recently, for example, Jason Calacanis called-out various investment groups that were actually charging entrepreneurs thousands of dollars just to present to them! His efforts have been extremely effective and his adversaries have backed-down (only after trying and failing to intimidate him with the threat of lawsuits). That was an excellent start!
So today I am again officially calling out another type of predator-namely that sort of unscrupulous broker-dealer that engages in predatory practices by targeting unsophisticated first-time entrepreneurs and yes, even unsuspecting professors on university campuses. They often claim that they are themselves entrepreneurs and convince their victims to sign egregious binding agreements with them that give these low-lifes huge equity positions in shell companies that they will subsequently form for the express purpose of taking a fee on the capital the low-life ends up raising for the company. When things don't quite go as planned, embedded as they are in these structures, these bottom-feeders usually sue their prey and try to encumber them for years. This is not entrepreneurship- it is a form of fraud- so beware of anyone approaching you in this manner.
My main point here is that the message we in the entrepreneurial community ought to take from the so-called Spy
Scandal is not the audacity of the espionage per-se, but rather that this is only the tip of the
iceberg. There are actually worse characters lurking around on the scene born and raised right here in the US. We should also perhaps realize now just how easy it is for these folks to meld in.
Please don't get me wrong. I am of course not saying that we should take the news of the espionage itself lightly. Plenty of foolish folk and ill-informed talking-heads are in fact doing just this on TV and the blogoshphere and are making light of these "inneffectual" so-called spies. This should only make your ears perk up! (One of these spies, just as an example, was an Executive MBA student at Columbia who allegedly targeted and cultivated our own Alan Patricof no doubt for his ties to the Clintons.)
What I am saying is that there are troubled people of all kinds out there who embed themselves into our culture and community, gain the confidence of good-natured folks new to the world of startups, and, once achieved, take full advantage of them. I see this happening all the time, have seen young entrepreneurs get hurt by them and it always infuriates me. Whether they be foreign agents or American-born broker-dealers with zero conscience of the sort I have been describing- they are one and the same to me. Only the masks are different.
