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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?

#241

Post by PerfectElement »

zupreme wrote: post #47

Learn from my mistake. Unless you're already financially secure (meaning you could stop working and live your current lifestyle for several years) then my advice is to take the money while you can OR to leverage that valuation to pocket a few million $ (by selling equity). I'm doing great with my current startups now but several years ago I founded a very promising startup which almost immediately got many acquisitio…

Can you give more details about your startup? Were you a single founder bootstrapping?

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

#242

Post by jaggederest »

chatmasta wrote: post #142
viraptor wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can only get the image from cache if it's the same URL. You can still vary those between recipients.

But if it's a different URL for each recipient then google will fetch each individual URL, for each email. So every URL will be opened exactly once, by the google fetch that happens when the google server receives the email. The user will fetch the pixel from google cache. So how can you track open rates by pixel download when 100% of pixels are downloaded just one time? It probably depends on email clients. If a des…

Try it. The various MSPs I use report to within a minute whether I open an email or not, and they do this effectively on Gmail and other clients as well.

I see no way they could do this besides the tracking pixels they embed in email, which means that google does not prefetch, but I'd be happy to be proven wrong.

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

#243

Post by jaggederest »

chatmasta wrote: post #88
jaggederest wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, it only caches when they are requested by the user - google acts more like a proxy. Essentially they're preventing the remote server from grabbing HTTP headers/cookies from gmail users but not preventing them from tracking when it is loaded, chronologically.

The google servers download every image, regardless of whether or not the user later opens it or not. So since every image is downloaded, and subsequent downloads come from google cache, the pixel becomes an ineffective way of tracking open rate.

This is factually incorrect.

At least for the MSPs I use, they report the open time accurate to within a minute whether I'm using Gmail or not. I see no way for them to do this besides tracking pixels embedded in the document, since I don't see any other outside resources.

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

#244

Post by senatorobama »

have_faith wrote: post #121
bsvalley wrote: post #12

Welcome to Silicon Valley, it's all about networking here. I'd suggest you to sell and to update your Resume - "I created company XYZ acquired by ABC in 2017". That alone will help you fund your next venture. Also, you'll gain a lot of credibility in the Valley and you will be seen as a successful entrepreneur. Lock your money first, then go out there have fun with your new ideas. You'll be way more focused on your b…

> Welcome to Silicon Valley, it's all about networking here. I haven't found any aspect of life that this isn't true yet.

Wow. I always thought my technical skills would help me.

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

#245

Post by vostok »

tptacek wrote: post #216
sgs1370 wrote: post #205

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You should* also be working with a banker who sells companies for a living. They will take some % (10%? Who knows) of the deal, but in my limited experience it seems worth it, since they will also help you make introductions and give advice - maybe not perfect advice but it will be advice that will either raise the price of your sale, make it happen faster, or promote some corrupt agenda the banker has (i.e. work wit…

I could be wrong, and if I am I'd appreciate informed corrections, but I don't think it's the norm for low-8-figure transactions to use bankers.

Business brokers also exist and they're very similar to investment bankers for small, simple transactions.

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

#246

Post by PerfectElement »

vikp wrote: post #226

I haven't seen this advice in this thread yet, but there is a path other than selling or raising VC. It's focusing and growing your revenue until you get through this crunch. We've been in a similar situation before, that we managed to grow our way out of. It is possible to get through this, keep growing your business, and do it all on your own terms. To resolve the short-term feeling of being overwhelmed, here are a…

> I don't know what your revenue is, but I'd guess a few hundred k ARR.

Is it normal for a SaaS with a few hundred k in ARR to be worth $14 million?

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

#247

Post by herewhere »

You only get to live once. The only limited thing that you have is your time. If you wake up every morning with the passion for the work you are doing, then you are lucky. A lot of people work at a job that they don't like; this includes engineers at top companies.

If you love your job as founder of a startup, I would suggest that keep doing what you love to do. To be successful, you need following:

1. User/Customer Empathy 2. Move Fast in the right direction 3. Focus on hiring and retaining good/great engineers.

When you know that you are failing on any of the above, then you need to think about the exit strategy.

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

#248

Post by fanzhang »

GrinningFool wrote: post #66
callmeed wrote: post #39

IMO You need to look into both options until you get at least (a) a letter of intent for acquisition or (b) a term sheet from a VC. If you can, get both, then consider taking the VC money if you can get a significantly higher valuation and good terms. I recall a VC interview recently where he said (paraphrasing) not accepting cold emails and requiring an introduction is a filter that proves you know how to hustle and…

Re the "know how to hustle" thing - building a successful business takes a lot of "hustle". If someone succeeds at that, they've proven that they can do it. The notion that someone needs to meet some invisible bar of proof beyond building a successful company is - to me - yet another symptom of the damage SV has inflicted on the minds of a generation of technically inclined enterpreneurs.

I bet that the "know how to hustle" is a backwards theoretical story. In reality VCs just empirically find cold calls to be much worse because it's diluted down with a lot of really random people. If that's the case that'd be unfortunate because a mindset change wouldn't be sufficient to reverse the trend.

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

#249

Post by zdragnar »

Retric wrote: post #232
zdragnar wrote: post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Buying a jet creates high paying, skilled jobs which support families, their children's education, and so forth. The downstream effect from the purchase includes the pilot, the airport expenses, maintenance crew, and the taxes on the expenses and all of those salaries. Not a cent of the money is in any way wasted. I'm reminded of the Maryland luxury tax, which allegedly crippled their boat building industry and put a…

May I suggest you read this: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parable_of_the_broken_window Fuel and depreciation is simply wealth being destroyed.

Fuel and depreciation are only destroyed wealth if there is no lost opportunity by not purchasing them, and that entertainment alone is not a sufficiently worthy value.

Presuming so would also argue that the majority of human endeavor is also waste; everything from entertaining TV shows to having small animals as pets to music lessons to trips to private space flight to works of fiction.

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

#250

Post by stevenj »

jedberg wrote: post #212
weaksauce wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In a somewhat crude and related note. felix dennis (the week weekly magazine founder) once said, “If it flies, floats or fornicates, always rent it.” Not completely bad advice for most rich people that want to stay rich.

It's ok to say "fucks" on HN, especially if it's a direct quote (and in this case fairly relevant since he was a fairly crass man).

I remember reading "fornicates" as well when I read the book. While I'm not able to find a direct online source to the quote, I did stumble upon this old HN thread where multiple people quote the same thing: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=680645 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=680633 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=681167
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