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Should Entrepreneurs Bet It All On The Billion Dollar Exit, Or Cash Out Small?

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Re: Should Entrepreneurs Bet It All On The Billion Dollar Exit, Or Cash Out Small?

#31

Post by Rantenki »

jacquesm wrote: post #11

There are more choices than just those two, you could simply build a solid business with respectable turnover and a good profit margin. If you're not looking for your exit too hard it just might come your way anyway, and building a solid business is one way to work towards that goal. If you're only focused on your exit and it doesn't happen or the timing is off you are probably in a lot of trouble.

+1

Too many founders are focusing on the big exit. Survivor bias really feeds this too, as we hear all these great "I got rich" stories from successful exits, and never hear the "I failed hard" stories from failed startups.

Tuning your company for acquisition instead of profitability is stupid. Don't do it. Cashing out for $10M or $1B are probably not options you actually ever have, so don't fixate on them.

Re: Should Entrepreneurs Bet It All On The Billion Dollar Exit, Or Cash Out Small?

#32

Post by mkramlich »

Psyonic wrote: post #30
mkramlich wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That scene with Parker was one of my favorite in the movie. I liked how after telling Roy's story to Mark and then talking about how Facebook was a once in a lifetime opportunity, and seemingly after he was done talking about Roy, he tossed out the line, "The water under the Golden Gate bridge is cold." Awesome line. Then not a minute later he told Mark that he wanted him to be able to say, "I'm CEO, bitch. " Regardl…

Absolutely. I found that speech very inspirational. I'm aware that founding a startup isn't really like that (not usually, at least), but it still threw some coals on the fire.

Agreed. Though to your comment about what startups are like in real life, I'd say that based on my experience, in the real world, startups can be exactly how it was portrayed in the movie. Yes the movie was optimized to be more dramatic and "perfect". But in broader strokes, and in terms of the kinds of incidents and patterns and relationships that happen, I've found startups to be a lot like how early Facebook was portrayed. Been there, done that, even have the t-shirt. Just don't have the billion dollar valuation... yet. ;)

Re: Should Entrepreneurs Bet It All On The Billion Dollar Exit, Or Cash Out Small?

#33

Post by Psyonic »

mkramlich wrote: post #32
Psyonic wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Absolutely. I found that speech very inspirational. I'm aware that founding a startup isn't really like that (not usually, at least), but it still threw some coals on the fire.

Agreed. Though to your comment about what startups are like in real life, I'd say that based on my experience, in the real world, startups can be exactly how it was portrayed in the movie. Yes the movie was optimized to be more dramatic and "perfect". But in broader strokes, and in terms of the kinds of incidents and patterns and relationships that happen, I've found startups to be a lot like how early Facebook was p…

Cool, thanks. Best of luck to you on that valuation!
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