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My $0->$100M->$0 in 5 years story

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Re: My $0->$100M->$0 in 5 years story

#41

Post by swyx »

mustafa_pasi wrote: post #26

All I'm thinking is, you Americans are really fucking lucky. Yeah OK, VCs are greedy and difficult to work with, but at least they give you a chance and literally give you startup capital in the millions to build your own thing. That is mind blowing to me and definitely what sets America apart from everywhere else.

i mean, it exists in europe and asia too (i'm not familiar with latam/africa so less willing to make this kind of statement there). and if you pass some kind of socioeconomic bar you can be based anywhere but "effectively part of the US startup scene" if you hustle into the right circles. step 1 is incorporate thru stripe atlas imo.

Re: My $0->$100M->$0 in 5 years story

#43

Post by swyx »

laurent123456 wrote: post #39

It was making 7 figures and now it's worth $0? If the investments from VC didn't lead to anything, wouldn't the company still make 7 figures anyway and shouldn't it be possible to continue as it is?

yeah def not the whole story being told. this wouldve at least been a nice acquihire for somebody if it were a valuable business. if this founder ran a 7 figure business into the ground with no cash shortage pressure he cant blame VCs for that.

Re: My $0->$100M->$0 in 5 years story

#44

Post by jamesaurichs »

mustafa_pasi wrote: post #26

All I'm thinking is, you Americans are really fucking lucky. Yeah OK, VCs are greedy and difficult to work with, but at least they give you a chance and literally give you startup capital in the millions to build your own thing. That is mind blowing to me and definitely what sets America apart from everywhere else.

The built-in culture of risk taking in US can't be underestimated. Yes, we joke about Florida man and lament about the excess funding for startups. But with great risk comes great reward, and chances for inexperienced founders to prove themselves. Nowhere else on the planet are you able to do that with such magnitude, not in Japan, not in Europe, not in China (now that they're broke and in a Great Depression, and Xi is killing off entrepreneurs).

Re: My $0->$100M->$0 in 5 years story

#46

Post by paxys »

What I got out of the post is – "My business was on a path to success because of my own efforts, and failed only because of those pesky VCs and their money". With an attitude like that no wonder they lost what they had.

Re: My $0->$100M->$0 in 5 years story

#47

Post by kcsavvy »

Elements of this story indicate a founder who simply lost control of their company, which is their job as a founder. I don’t think the VC is the villain here.

They raised at an inflated valuation and seemingly received a favorable multiple (100-10x “7-figure” revenue). The fact that they rode out the company to 0 means they had board control and were never fired. So they are ultimately responsible for every decision they made. Including over-hiring and not firing their clueless VPs.

I say this as a founder of a yc-backed company that was acquired. I know the pressures of short-sided VCs. I also know that the job of a founder is to pick which advice you follow.

Re: My $0->$100M->$0 in 5 years story

#48

Post by atleastoptimal »

hattmall wrote: post #30
atleastoptimal wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

The people getting the millions aren't generally from the same pool as those who have no healthcare and experience gun violence. Two entirely different worlds.

I was being facetious, a commentary on people who ardently defend the US on the merit of its economic strength over everything else, including many basic amenities much poorer countries take for granted.

Re: My $0->$100M->$0 in 5 years story

#49

Post by dig1 »

raincom wrote: post #11

Lessons learned from that post: (1) "I was told to hire a lot of people. Put fuel on the fire they said. Bring industry experts who can move the needle. All this BS you hear all day. All failed. I hired VPs and bloated my payroll. Ultimately I ended up with a bunch of highly paid employees who don’t know how to do anything but to “build and lead amazing teams.” Imagine you hire someone to scale an area and their solu…

The OP should hire someone to handle VC requests (better say to send most of those requests to /dev/null with a nice chocolate & flowers wrap) and keep customers happy with his productive five employees. Growth would come naturally over time.

Re: My $0->$100M->$0 in 5 years story

#50

Post by jacquesm »

I can condense this to 'I thought CEO was a nice title but I failed at taking it seriously and allowed others to lead my company whilst I held the title'.

The results are predictable. Note how there is no acceptance of personal responsibility.

I also note that there isn't a shred of evidence for this whole story, and $100M to $0 does not seem like a believable trajectory (nor does $0 to $100M, but the other is much less believable).

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