Why Did Investors Back Out of Jamie Siminoff's Round?

Jamie Siminoff says an East Coast group of early-stage investors backed out of his round at the last second. They had called themselves founder friendly and were basically in. They said the business was great, then worried he was in Los Angeles and would not be able to raise the next round. In his view, they should have admitted they were a hedge fund instead of writing the standard finance-person email.

He called them out in an email that used the word asshat, and some choicer words, and the email got passed around. At dinner, one of his investors said they did not know they were all asshats. His reaction was uh-oh. He was under so much stress. Looking back, the email is funny and a little bit of a badge of honor. At the time it felt dumb, with no value in poking the bear, though the outburst also matched his personality.

The email has aged well because he made it. If he had not made it, it would have aged much more poorly.