A2June 5, 2026·2 min read·217 words·6 vocab words·Source: TechCrunch

Founders shared VC horror stories on X

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Founders shared horror stories about venture capitalists on X last week. The stories were funny and infuriating. Greg Isenberg started the conversation. He is a startup podcaster. He said a VC fell asleep during a pitch meeting. The VC slept for 30 minutes. Nobody in the meeting talked about it. They kept going. This was a very common story. Many founders had similar experiences. Mark Pincus also told a story about a sleeping VC. Liz Wessel had a different story. A VC fell asleep, and another VC scowled. Her team got a term sheet after that. They did not take the money. The VC was shocked. Travis Kalanick followed a VC to his car. The VC tried to leave the meeting. Kalanick pitched from the passenger seat. Matthew Prince from Cloudflare shared stories too. A Sequoia partner passed on Cloudflare. He said a woman could not lead the company. The woman was Michelle Zatlyn. Cloudflare is now a huge company. Prince also talked about Vinod Khosla. Khosla suggested to fire co-founders. Prince was offended. He blocked Khosla's number. Some founders said they had good experiences with VCs. But poor experiences were very common. Mark Pincus loved this moment. He said founders no longer have to be afraid to call out VCs. These stories were interesting for everyone.

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Comprehension

Question 1 of 3

Where did founders share these stories?

Grammar spotlight

Past Simple for completed actions

One point · A2

We use past simple to talk about actions that started and finished in the past.

From this article

“Founders shared horror stories about venture capitalists on X last week.”

What to know · A2

Use it today

Try saying this aloud

Neutral register

Scenario: Describe a funny moment you saw or heard about recently.

01“I saw a story about...”
02“a person fell asleep”
03“it was shocking”

Register tip · informal

🔑Key Phrases

“Founders shared horror stories about venture capitalists on X last week.”— People who started companies told bad experiences about investors on the social media platform X last week.

This uses past simple ('shared') to state a completed action, which is a key A2 grammar point.

past simple→

My friends shared funny videos on social media yesterday.

“He said a VC fell asleep during a pitch meeting.”— He reported that an investor went to sleep while people talked about the company.

This sentence combines reported speech with past simple ('said', 'fell'), which is a useful A2 structure.

reported speech (past simple)→

She said the bus left at 8 AM.

“They did not take the money.”— They refused to accept the investment.

This uses the negative form of past simple ('did not take'), which is an essential A2 pattern.

past simple negative→

I did not watch the movie last night.

🎙️ Article Audio — Kokoro TTS