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On 2026-03-30 Sandy Kory (Horizon) asserted that VCs "systematically overrate…
Brief
Sandy Kory (Horizon VC) argues VCs still overrate charismatic founders, penalizing introverted, product‑obsessed builders. She traces the shift from sales‑driven enterprise winners like Oracle to cloud/self‑serve product‑led companies (Atlassian, Shopify/Tobias Lütke, Canva), and says Horizon focuses on backing earnest pre‑seed/seed founders who build products users love.
Why it matters
On 2026-03-30 Sandy Kory (Horizon) asserted that VCs "systematically overrate charismatic founders," which she says disadvantages introverted, product‑obsessed founders.
Key details
- Kory links the bias to enterprise software history: sales‑driven winners like Oracle dominated for decades, but the cloud and self‑serve model shifted advantage to product‑led companies such as Atlassian, Shopify (Tobias Lütke), and Canva.
- Horizon built its entire investment strategy around that gap and is explicitly targeting earnest, product‑obsessed founders at the pre‑seed and seed stages; Kory invited founders or referrals to connect.