Sounds exactly like what I would expect from a VC and exactly the opposite of what someone like Larry Page would do. I think my energy is better spent fixing valid critiques and requesting a follow-up review once you have.
Better to build something that can stand up to the harshest of reviews than run around spraying perfume on dung.
Pretty funny anecdote, even if having a relative purchase the item is a bit on the sketchy side. But I definitely understand having to show your business at its best in crucial situations.
I wonder how one would analogize this to a social network-based website where an influential blogger might be visiting to review. Would one populate the place with a buzzing community? Script certain features to respond flawless to expected invocations? It's much more manufactured (and wrong) in this case.
Why not just make your service good to every user instead of focusing on those people you think you need to impress? I think that every user should have the same great experience and not just a handful of hand-picked consumers. If you have a good product I think that'll show through regardless. It seems like if you feel that you need to do this that you probably find huge weaknesses in your product.
I agree in the sense that you don't want to try to upgrade a lousy experience for the benefit of a few VIPs visiting the site by putting manual effort into it (I think artifically speeding up the sale of their items is borderline in this camp). But I don't think you'll ever get around the fact that sometimes shit just happens when you least want it to, so there's absolutely nothing wrong with ensuring that VIPs are getting the high quality of service that you designed for your customers by manually reviewing their experience. Using the same system that you're using to manually review a random sample of customers to make sure they're getting the full experience.
Kind of like taking extra care when you've got a few grand in your wallet, but you wouldn't be careless with it when you're broke.
Maybe what he does has a side effect on usability. Looking closely at individual users (vs. looking at aggregated statistics) may help really understand what the customers are doing.
Better to build something that can stand up to the harshest of reviews than run around spraying perfume on dung.