71–80 of 398 posts
On the other hand, my first self-funded startup got destroyed by a VC funded venture. They had a worse product but far better marketing and they used every dirty trick in book to tarnish my company’s reputation. There is no way I’ll start another startup unless I receive backing from a huge VC company. Current economic paradigm is more similar to centralised/controlled economies of USSR. Thus if you want to succeed,…
I second this. Have had a similar experience.
Figure out what matters to you and act accordingly. And you can’t decide “money and passion” because, in my opinion, they’re at odds with each other and is usually just a self-lie.
Like always, no post has a one-size-fits all answer. Well, except for this comment. ;)
It all depends on how capital intensive your business is, and how fast you want or must grow to become how large.
You’re so right! It was an absolute disaster for us. Never do it!!!!! Kidding aside, it is true that raising money from VCs puts you on a very defined path with really only three potential outcomes: 1) failure, 2) sell to acquirer, or 3) go public. There are a small handful of exceptions, mostly for companies that throw off massive amounts of cash, but, realistically, those are the outcomes. If you don’t like any of…
According to Statista there were 16,464 VC deals signed in 2022. There were 181 IPOs in that year. The most IPOs in a year ever is 1,035. Obviously the two aren't directly comparable, but the point I'm getting at is that an IPO exit for any company is really unusual. If you found a company and take on VC funding your exit event is much more likely to be getting acquired if you don't fail. It does happen, and deserved…
You’re so right! It was an absolute disaster for us. Never do it!!!!! Kidding aside, it is true that raising money from VCs puts you on a very defined path with really only three potential outcomes: 1) failure, 2) sell to acquirer, or 3) go public. There are a small handful of exceptions, mostly for companies that throw off massive amounts of cash, but, realistically, those are the outcomes. If you don’t like any of…
On the other hand, my first self-funded startup got destroyed by a VC funded venture. They had a worse product but far better marketing and they used every dirty trick in book to tarnish my company’s reputation. There is no way I’ll start another startup unless I receive backing from a huge VC company. Current economic paradigm is more similar to centralised/controlled economies of USSR. Thus if you want to succeed,…
I self-funded my startup to the tune of half a million dollars. I've had what I can only assume to be a VC-funded competitor study my endpoints for high latency / expensive queries, then saturate them with millions of requests a second across thousands of simultaneous IP addresses. Business is survival of the fittest. Pressures and growth gradients come in all shapes and sizes.
You’re so right! It was an absolute disaster for us. Never do it!!!!! Kidding aside, it is true that raising money from VCs puts you on a very defined path with really only three potential outcomes: 1) failure, 2) sell to acquirer, or 3) go public. There are a small handful of exceptions, mostly for companies that throw off massive amounts of cash, but, realistically, those are the outcomes. If you don’t like any of…
Tangential: I'll never forget the story of Lee. One of the few times I've I've shed so many tears over someone I never met. https://www.wired.com/story/lee-holloway-devastating-decline...
Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is an unhelpful comment and tone that doesn't add much. Many of us come to HN for the discussion and don't even care for the articles. Threads will often digress into interesting and orthogonal tangents. A better way to respond might be, "your comment is true in some circumstances, but the article states condition X, which makes the advice applicable."
Which is why this place is just Reddit with more flowery language and an illusion of expertise
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> While there are plenty of VC horror stories, there are fairytales as well. What's the ratio, though??? 10/1? 20/1? 50/1?
In my experience, around 5% of VCs I've met in real life are truly decent human beings, even in cases where they don't have to be . The rest have been pure capitalistic sharks (which is understandable, given the entire sector filters for this).