There’s a semi public fight being played out, starting with a TechCrunch story, between FilmLoop and ComVentures.

As someone who has seen both sides of the fence, albeit at smaller scales than what’s being discussed, I have to come out on the side of the VCs in this story.  FilmLoop’s ordeals are, of course, difficult for any entrepreneur to face.  However, not having access to every detail of the deal or the process, I think it’s wrong to label ComVentures ‘evil’.

Sophisticated entrepreneurs know the pitfalls and caveats of accepting venture capital.  In general, I believe VC money turns a venture into a more binary play.  The downside of binary plays is that the alternative to a huge success is usually a big zero.  The rules of the VC game are clear enough that it makes me doubt that another VC fund would have behaved differently, if they thought (presumably as the ComVentures team did) that FilmLoop was a failure.