很多已经完成了种子融资的科技初创公司由于无法获得风险投资人的后续投资，可能最终倒闭。这一轮“Series A融资收紧”（®资深撰稿人萨拉•莱西）引发了一些人幸灾乐祸的情绪，情形与人们听到话题女王林赛·罗韩缺钱时的表现如出一辙。

    完成种子融资就意味着会有人眼红。

    首先申明一点，笔者是精英理念的坚定支持者。最优秀的公司应当获得融资，垃圾公司应当关门，以便员工能追求更有价值的事业。

    但我不是特别明白的是，为什么这么多人相信风投是万无一失的试金石。正是这些风险投资家中的很多人，在互联网泡沫破裂前帮着吹大了泡沫——让衰退的阴霾弥漫到了整个美国。正是这些人在Facebook等公司刚刚起步时，戛然放缓了投资步伐。正是这些人对社交游戏公司Zynga等后期公司给出了荒唐的估值。正是这些人让安德鲁·梅森在团购网站Groupon 首次公开募股之前将所有股票套现。大家以为最先向Solyndra投资的人是谁?

    我要说的不是风投都是笨蛋，而是他们也会犯错。不妨看看Bessemer Venture Partners承认错过的那些公司。每家风投都犯过错，不难想象会有些优质公司被错过，而一些不该拿到融资的公司拿到了融资。实际上，“Series A融资收紧”可能意味着风投正在犯下更多、而不是更少的错误（因为风投的时间越来越紧张，而需要筛选的、已完成种子融资的交易越来越多）。

    还有一件事：大骂“傻瓜天使投资人”之前，或许应该先了解一下，为什么他们一开始要投资这么多公司。研究显示，天使投资人投资的初创公司越多，获得积极回报的可能性越高。我说的可不是5和2的区别。我说的是50，而不是10。

    但别让我扫了兴，大家尽管幸灾乐祸地看着硅谷那帮傻乎乎追逐梦想（或者帮助别人追逐梦想）的家伙们吧。我相信风投最后会把一切都搞定的。

    译者：早稻米

    Lots of tech startups that raised seed funding can't get follow-on investments from venture capitalists, thus causing the companies to disappear. It's being called the "Series A crunch" (® Sarah Lacy), and has sparked the type of schadenfreude usually reserved for Lindsay Lohan's money troubles.

    Be seeded, be resented.

    To be clear, I'm a firm believer in the idea of meritocracy. The best companies should get funded, and the crappy ones should fold so their employees can move on to more worthwhile pursuits.

    What I don't quite get, however, is why so many people believe venture capitalists are infallible arbiters of what rocks and what sucks. These are many of the same venture capitalists who helped inflate the dotcom bubble before it burst -- getting its recessionary goo all over America. And the same ones who slowed down their investing pace in the middle aughts, when companies like Facebook were just getting started. And who gave absurd later-stage valuations to companies like Zynga (ZNGA). And who let Andrew Mason cash out all of that Groupon (GRPN) stock pre-IPO. And who do you think first put money into Solyndra?

    My point isn't that venture capitalists are dummies. It's that they make mistakes. Just take a look at the companies that Bessemer Venture Partners admits to passing on. Every firm has them, and it's not unreasonable to think that certain quality startups fall through the cracks. Or that some undeserving companies get to move forward. In fact, the "Series A crunch" likely means that more errors are being made, rather than fewer (since VCs are sorting through an increased number of seed-funded deals, without getting more hours in the day).

    One more thing: Before insulting all those "dopey angel investors," it might be worth understanding why they backed so many companies in the first place. Research has shown that angels have the best chance of producing positive returns by investing in more, not fewer, startups. And I don't mean five rather than two. I mean 50 rather than 10.

    But don't let me ruin the fun of feeling superior to all those folks in Silicon Valley who foolishly chased their dreams (or who helped others to do so). I'm sure that venture capitalists will make everything work out okay.