Why we launched Glasswall, and a look ahead at what’s next

The rollout of Glasswall, a Tech in Asia product that lets startup founders review VCs anonymously, has created far more buzz and debate than we expected.

After we released a summary of the reviews we’ve received so far, Glasswall became the talk of Southeast Asia’s startup community.

Image credit: Tech in Asia

Over 250 reviews were submitted, most of them within the past week. While a good chunk of them are critical, most VCs got an overall positive rating. This is great – we’ve always wanted Glasswall to highlight both sides of the coin.

Glasswall taps into something raw and real: There’s been years and years of pent-up desire among founders to talk about VCs. But even some investors are excited about this. “Can I just say, bravo with Glasswall? It’s so beautiful,” a VC told me.

Positive feedback before launch

The idea of a “Glassdoor focused on VCs” isn’t new. Perhaps the most successful one is Bookface, a platform exclusively for startups that have joined US-based accelerator Y Combinator.

But none of these platforms has a foothold in Southeast Asia. So somewhere around the first half of 2023, the Tech in Asia team thought, why don’t we build one?

Our first step was to gather feedback. We put ourselves in the shoes of startup founders to understand what they’re going through when fundraising.

While it’s obvious that founders often turn to each other for advice, we found out that they’re often exchanging notes on investors: who’s in the market for an investment and who’s not, what their tendencies are, and whether they’re great to work with.

But these chats usually happen in whispers and in private WhatsApp groups since VCs wield a lot of power. This means founders don’t want to say anything critical out loud. It also creates information asymmetry, allowing some VCs to get away with bad behavior.

The chats with founders made us more confident that we were on the right track. Then it was up to people in the product and engineering team – Willis, Christine, and Liang Jie specifically – to bring Glasswall to life. Most of the credit should go to them.

How it works and what comes next

Leaving a review on Glasswall is easy. Start by heading to the Investors section of our Database and search for the name of the investor. Hit “Write a review” to leave your comments.

Your privacy is assured – you don’t need a Tech in Asia account to leave feedback.

Of course, we know that anonymous reviews come with a host of issues. Indeed, some investors I spoke to are less warm to the idea.

One VC told me that some founders take things personally after getting rejected. As such, they might leave a bad review even though the investor had been transparent and communicative.

On the flip side, quite a few VCs tell me they like Glasswall because it creates more transparency in the industry.

After all, they’ve been burned by bad behavior from peers who own shares in the same startup. One investor told me that they maintain a blacklist of VCs they’d never work with.

Another consideration is how despite its anonymous content and fake reviews, Glassdoor still gives people a real pulse on an employer. The same goes for Glasswall – as long as founders do their own checks on investors, that is.

In any case, crowdsourced reviews isn’t a new idea. There are many tried-and-true ways to mitigate the downsides, and we’ll prioritize these to keep the momentum going and encourage quality reviews.

For starters, we’ll moderate reviews based on guidelines that we’ll create. We’re also considering allowing investors to flag or reply to feedback. In addition, we’re looking into giving people the option to leave comments tied to their registered accounts.

Our goal is for Glasswall to be a place for constructive and honest feedback. It’s a tricky balance: Founders want a safe space to voice out issues, but investors are worried about malicious falsehoods. Both are valid concerns.

Navigating this deftly will be key to Glasswall’s success. I can’t speak for the rest of the team, but I’m both scared and excited by what we’ve released. The burden is on us not just to do this well, but to do it responsibly.