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Ask HN: Sell my startup for $14M because I can't raise $2M?

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Re: Ask HN: Sell my startup for $14M because I can't raise $2M?

#101

Post by hexadecimated »

osteele wrote: post #84
jonnathanson wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Even if you'd eventually make $50m, your life wouldn't change much from a net worth of $14m to $50m. You could buy a nicer jet?" I know you're kidding around here, but all kidding aside, whether your net worth is $14M or $50M, you can't afford a jet. (I mean, nominally speaking, you can front the sticker price -- but you'll get eaten alive on fuel and maintenance over the jet's useful lifespan, and the jet as an ass…

I dined once with a billionaire and a couple of multimillionaires. The billionaire owned a jet. The multimillionaires were envious of him because they only owned jet timeshares . (If you own your own jet, it's always where you want it, you can decorate it the way you want, and you can leave your stuff in its bedroom and living room. It's like having a pied-à-terre in a city instead of renting a hotel room each time y…

Such hideously wasteful extravagance, and how sad that these people who are already absurdly rich are still greedy for more.

Re: Ask HN: Sell my startup for $14M because I can't raise $2M?

#102

Post by charlesdm »

qaq wrote: post #55
mason55 wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> your life wouldn't change much from a net worth of $14m to $50m. You could buy a nicer jet? No one is buying a jet with a $14mm sale

One would hope none is stupid enough to buy a jet with a 50m sale either

But you sure as hell will be chartering and/or flying first all the time.

Re: Ask HN: Sell my startup for $14M because I can't raise $2M?

#103

Post by elif »

tgb wrote: post #15

Off-topic: I thought that tracking email opening was no longer possible in gmail? My memory of it was that you'd insert an image and track whether that was retrieved, but that GMail started caching all images ahead of time for their users so you couldn't tell if/when it was opened. See, eg, [1]. Is that not correct? [1] https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2013/12/gmail...

IIRC they made a specific exception for tracking pixels, because 1x1 are pretty easy to separate from actual images.

Re: Ask HN: Sell my startup for $14M because I can't raise $2M?

#105

Post by ScottBurson »

Hmm, the consensus here seems to be that you should take the money. But "it looks like we could sell for $12-14M" is not the same as "we have a firm offer".

It looks like a few investors have invited you to respond, and one or more of those connections might work out. If none do, however, it sounds to me like your best remaining option would be to continue to bootstrap. A couple of people have suggested bank loans, and that might be worth looking into, but I'd guess your better bet is to explain the situation to some of your customers and ask them to help out by prepaying some amount of their SaaS fees in exchange for a discount on same. Nobody knows better than they do how useful your product is, and they want you to stay in business.

Whatever you choose -- good luck!

Re: Ask HN: Sell my startup for $14M because I can't raise $2M?

#106

Post by fuzzieozzie »

Taking home $12-14MM now is a no brainer!

Say you raise $5M at a $14M valuation. The VC will want a 3x return ... so the next sale for you is around $60M. How quickly until you are at $60M.

Having been in a similar situation in 2006 I am so glad I sold. With the GFC around the corner the next hurdle would have been very difficult to achieve!

Another way to look at it -- until the $$ are in the bank, the $12-14MM is not real!

Re: Ask HN: Sell my startup for $14M because I can't raise $2M?

#108

Post by caseysoftware »

> I've failed hard here.

Stop that. No you haven't.

You've built something that is useful, valuable, and that others see massive potential in. That sounds like a win all the way around.

Could you scale it bigger and become something more? Maybe. Could you crash and burn and wipe yourselves out? Maybe.

Sometimes taking the small win feels like losing but putting a win on your resume will open doors that you didn't know existed and might need next time around for your next venture.

Re: Ask HN: Sell my startup for $14M because I can't raise $2M?

#109

Post by qaq »

charlesdm wrote: post #102
qaq wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One would hope none is stupid enough to buy a jet with a 50m sale either

But you sure as hell will be chartering and/or flying first all the time.

I guess it depends on a person but both of those are more reasonable options vs buying

Re: Ask HN: Sell my startup for $14M because I can't raise $2M?

#110

Post by jonnathanson »

chx wrote: post #74
jonnathanson wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Even if you'd eventually make $50m, your life wouldn't change much from a net worth of $14m to $50m. You could buy a nicer jet?" I know you're kidding around here, but all kidding aside, whether your net worth is $14M or $50M, you can't afford a jet. (I mean, nominally speaking, you can front the sticker price -- but you'll get eaten alive on fuel and maintenance over the jet's useful lifespan, and the jet as an ass…

At 14M you are already in the territory where a jet card is definitely something you could afford. If I had that sort of money, I would use a jet card for flights within a continent and go first class commercial for intercontinental (and definitely use VIP terminal or at least meet and greet services). But at 50M you might be looking at fractional jet ownership already. There is a difference and it's a big one.

Well sure, but OP used the word "buy," and I felt the need to clarify that full ownership of a private jet is really not a great idea until you've got that precious third comma.
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