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This mentality is not compatible with venture capital. You want a life-style business. And that is absolutely fine. Investors want you to be very busy, scale the business and build a large company. Is the only way they can make their money back. (I work for a venture fund in Dubai)
This mentality is not compatible with venture capital. You want a life-style business. And that is absolutely fine. Investors want you to be very busy, scale the business and build a large company. Is the only way they can make their money back. (I work for a venture fund in Dubai)
>You want a life-style business. Who doesn't? In the end, everyone is choosing a life-style. Life-style decisions should be the first and most important motivating factor for engaging in any business activity - not money, not growth. Life-style. Money and growth and all the tangible business indicators are at least an order of factor away from the real reason folks do business. Folks wanting the venture funded path a…
As far as raising money from your users (which I don't recommend, but would unlock what you seem to see as the best of both worlds), I literally got an email about a service I use doing this today. When I got the email I didn't click the "Get shares today" button from the email (which wasn't spam and which I read carefully), but just now I did re-open that email and clicked the button to see where the "get shares now" went, as part of writing this comment.
Where they sent me was: https://www.seedinvest.com and which presumably you can find that coverage easily online (Forbes covered it, they claimed).
Personally, I don't know how I feel about having users invest. Regulation D and the idea of accredited investors had existed for very, very good reason. But there are examples for you to follow. I'm not sure if I can recommend it. It doesn't seem to be a good direction for most companies, and leads to poor outcomes for companies and for users. It also seems very ripe for scams, which a high level of transparency would help you prevent. At any rate it's an option. Personally, I recommend going with the institutional investor.
So you need to find someone who is interested enough in your unfair advantage that he is willing to be responsible for investment AND operations (AND giving you some money now).
In case your unfair advantage is really that good, have you considered selling the company. Keeping some shares.
Investor goals and founder goals are rarely aligned. If you want to go for world domination and would rather risk everything to achieve that and possibly end up with nothing at all then go the investor route. That will increase your chances of ending up with nothing, but it will (perversely) also increase your chances of success. If you're already happy at your current level just grow it organically and don't look ba…
Investor goals and founder goals are rarely aligned. If you want to go for world domination and would rather risk everything to achieve that and possibly end up with nothing at all then go the investor route. That will increase your chances of ending up with nothing, but it will (perversely) also increase your chances of success. If you're already happy at your current level just grow it organically and don't look ba…
Thanks a lot! I also spoke with a friend who already received funding and we will simply keep growing our own way but also work with some lawyers who go out and find a buyer for the company.
Hm. You realize that this may be a bit premature?
You're in the midst of your growth curve, I'd go a bit further before thinking about selling the company, especially if you want to remain 'happy'. Selling a company usually means there will be some strings attached, for instance, you might end up working for the acquiring party for a set period (possibly years...), and you will lose autonomy, which is one surefire way of becoming less happy.
On top of all that you'll have to negotiate a deal (preferably one which does not leave you with a bunch of illiquid stock but with a nice pile of cash), and that too will take a lot of organization and knowledge.
I'd suggest you do everything you can to read up on your situation and what your options are before you commit to any moves.
Startup School Talk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CDXJ6bMkMY
This mentality is not compatible with venture capital. You want a life-style business. And that is absolutely fine. Investors want you to be very busy, scale the business and build a large company. Is the only way they can make their money back. (I work for a venture fund in Dubai)
>You want a life-style business. Who doesn't? In the end, everyone is choosing a life-style. Life-style decisions should be the first and most important motivating factor for engaging in any business activity - not money, not growth. Life-style. Money and growth and all the tangible business indicators are at least an order of factor away from the real reason folks do business. Folks wanting the venture funded path a…
The problem with the phrase is that it's become an insult in many corners of the startup world, as if bootstrapping a business on your own to survive decades is not ambitious enough.
The parallel I thought of is getting in shape: becoming a body-builder (by living at the gym and taking steroids) or just be in good shape (by eating healthier and exercising regularly).
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Thanks a lot! I also spoke with a friend who already received funding and we will simply keep growing our own way but also work with some lawyers who go out and find a buyer for the company.
> also work with some lawyers who go out and find a buyer for the company. Hm. You realize that this may be a bit premature? You're in the midst of your growth curve, I'd go a bit further before thinking about selling the company, especially if you want to remain 'happy'. Selling a company usually means there will be some strings attached, for instance, you might end up working for the acquiring party for a set perio…