Most founders think of VCs as mysterious rich fatcats who have the power to either make them or break them. They woo them; try to get into their good books; and network like crazy in order to be able to connect with them , so that they can pitch to them. The general perception is that they have all the power , because they manipulate the purse-strings. The power relationship between founders and VCs is very asymmetric, because there are such few VCs . They have so much money , that it appears that they pretty much control the startup system.