Everyone is allowed a few screw-ups, right? Problem is, for Bessemer Venture Partners––a goof or two meant missing out on little-known start-ups such as Google, Ebay, and Apple for what would have amounted to millions, if not billions of dollars. But rather than shy away from these mistakes, BVP has decided to celebrate their biggest blunders in a display of humility they have dubbed the “Anti-Portfolio.” We know of a certain industry that might learn a thing or two from these frank financiers…
The cringe-inducing list runs the gamut of missed opportunities, including the time they avoided Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, who were tinkering with a new search engine just one garage over. They also name names, informing readers that it was BVP big wig David Cowen who thought Ebay was a “no-brainer pass.” His words: “Stamps? Coins? Comic books? You’ve GOT to be kidding.” Other painful admittances include passes on Apple Computer, Paypal, Intel, and FedEx. To BVP’s credit, it’s not done begrudgingly, and doesn’t sound forced or manufactured. How’s that for transparency?

A tactic all too rare with old school ad men, this brand of honesty––stripped of static, noise, and persuasion––is invaluable in the post-interruption adscape. An excellent and lucrative example is Dominos’ Pizza Turnaround campaign, wherein the pizza pushers came clean about their cardboard-flavored pies, promising to win customers back by offering a genuinely better product. (Whether or not the new recipe was a tangible improvement is another discussion altogether.)

What better way to build trust than to fess up to past mistakes and confront what is, in many cases, already obvious? We can’t win em’ all––BVP knows this much, and wants you to know that they’re human. Their honesty is endearing. Though when you’re “perhaps the nation’s oldest venture capital firm,” such blunders are easier to laugh off.

Think of a favorite brand: does it have a heartbeat, or is it still surrounded by smoke and mirrors? Leave us your comments below.

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