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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

#101

Post by ipaddr »

jamesaurichs wrote: post #88
AndrewKemendo wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Said another way, America is the sandbox for the rich to experiment on the poor, with technology that may or may not be good for the poor but ultimately doesn’t matter because the ultimate winner is always the one funding them. It’s the test and staging servers for global capitalism

Tesla creates American jobs for the poor to work in manufacturing SpaceX creates aspiration for the poor Google allows the poor to advertise their product to anyone in the world cheaply Facebook allows the poor to market their product to anyone in the world cheaply AirBnB allows the poor to live in an expensive city, cheaply Stripe allows the poor to sell their product to anyone in the world cheaply

What poor person works for Telsa?

What poor person gets aspiration because of Spacex. A basketball player is cheaper and does a better job inspiring.

The poor cannot afford to run adwords campaigns and can't even get a credit card.

Facebooks ads even more expensive.

The poor are not looking for short term rentals and cannot afford to live in the most expensive cities using airbnb. They live in rundown rent controlled places.

Paypal allows the poor to buy/sell.

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

#102

Post by ghaff »

Waterluvian wrote: post #100
ghaff wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you're in a senior management position in a company which has any M&A activity, I'd expect you to have at least some understanding of VC basics.

“I’d expect” That’s my point. People think their context is everyone’s context. You expect the world to be a certain way. Is it?

I'd expect a senior executive who doesn't know anything about basic accounting, M&A, or other skills associated with managing a large company to basically be a bad hire in most cases unless it's some specific skill kept off to the side.

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

#103

Post by sneak »

adwn wrote: post #94
lotsofmoney wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

An insane amount of money, world hegemony, and a very high standard of living. I’m not sure the average European appreciates just how comfortable life in the US is. And the average American doesn’t know that things they take fir granted are luxuries even to Western Europeans. Outside of a handful of small countries with specialized economies, European income per capita is at or below per capita income in even the poo…

> * And the average American doesn’t know that things they take fir granted are luxuries even to Western Europeans.* Such as? Name three examples, please. "smartphones and cars" doesn't cut it, those are pretty common even for low income citizens here in Germany at least, and we don't really need air conditioners on account of being located in higher latitudes – everyone has heating, though.

High quality food delivery (at any time, but especially after 22:00). 24 hour pharmacies. 24 hour grocery stores. Air conditioning. Cheap gas. Road trips where you have a personal vehicle when you arrive. Hot water in 100% of all handwashing sinks. Urgent care centers. Whole Foods.

You're 100% wrong about not needing air conditioning in Germany. Many of the last 45 days here have been above 24C. You're just used to being sweaty and uncomfortable.

A doctor who worked at Charite in Berlin told me last month that the whole summer he worked there he struggled to not drip sweat directly into patients as he leaned over them to work.

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

#104

Post by AndrewKemendo »

opportune wrote: post #99
AndrewKemendo wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Said another way, America is the sandbox for the rich to experiment on the poor, with technology that may or may not be good for the poor but ultimately doesn’t matter because the ultimate winner is always the one funding them. It’s the test and staging servers for global capitalism

Those companies have generated hundreds of thousands of extremely high paying jobs because hundreds of millions of consumers/many businesses chose to give them money.

[flagged]

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

#105

Post by refulgentis »

AndrewKemendo wrote: post #104
opportune wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Those companies have generated hundreds of thousands of extremely high paying jobs because hundreds of millions of consumers/many businesses chose to give them money.

[flagged]

That's a cute little quip but it's about climate change, not a complaint about the US having a relatively high amount of venture capital funding.

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

#106

Post by ipaddr »

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?

Not when your employee costs grow larger than your profits. Making a million a year turns into -250k if you hire 5 extra VPs who offer no value.

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

#107

Post by jacquesm »

Dylan16807 wrote: post #82
jacquesm wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think the VCs are to blame at all. This is a one sided story but that side already gives off so many signals of not being cut out for the job that it isn't surprising to see them heaping the blame on another party. If you're the CEO and you are looking for capital you don't do that whilst giving the capital providers a mandate to run your company by proxy. That's on him. If VCs tell you to do 'X' and you don'…

It seems fair to assign a lot of blame to the person that told you to do it and paid for you to do it as the owner of a good chunk of it. You don't think that should have any blame at all ?

The 'C' in CEO used to stand for something.

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

#108

Post by allarm »

sneak wrote: post #103
adwn wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> * And the average American doesn’t know that things they take fir granted are luxuries even to Western Europeans.* Such as? Name three examples, please. "smartphones and cars" doesn't cut it, those are pretty common even for low income citizens here in Germany at least, and we don't really need air conditioners on account of being located in higher latitudes – everyone has heating, though.

High quality food delivery (at any time, but especially after 22:00). 24 hour pharmacies. 24 hour grocery stores. Air conditioning. Cheap gas. Road trips where you have a personal vehicle when you arrive. Hot water in 100% of all handwashing sinks. Urgent care centers. Whole Foods. You're 100% wrong about not needing air conditioning in Germany. Many of the last 45 days here have been above 24C. You're just used to b…

> High quality food delivery…

Funny thing is that you’ve described Moscow here.

> You're 100% wrong about not needing air conditioning in Germany.

I realize that for an average American Germany is just a point on the map, but here in the north we had only a couple of hot days this summer. Otherwise - a truly horrifying story.

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

#109

Post by PaulDavisThe1st »

sneak wrote: post #103
adwn wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> * And the average American doesn’t know that things they take fir granted are luxuries even to Western Europeans.* Such as? Name three examples, please. "smartphones and cars" doesn't cut it, those are pretty common even for low income citizens here in Germany at least, and we don't really need air conditioners on account of being located in higher latitudes – everyone has heating, though.

High quality food delivery (at any time, but especially after 22:00). 24 hour pharmacies. 24 hour grocery stores. Air conditioning. Cheap gas. Road trips where you have a personal vehicle when you arrive. Hot water in 100% of all handwashing sinks. Urgent care centers. Whole Foods. You're 100% wrong about not needing air conditioning in Germany. Many of the last 45 days here have been above 24C. You're just used to b…

> High quality food delivery (at any time...)

In the largest cities, perhaps. Don't try that in Santa Fe. For that matter, don't try it in Philadelphia, at least not after 23:00)

> 24 hour [...]

An unusual feature of western US grocery stores (not generally replicated in the midwest or east coast as a whole, though it is spreading). Not common in smaller cities or towns. 24 pharmacies are useful, but many large cities in western Europe have a few, and many small cities and towns in the USA do not.

> Cheap gas

A function of US vs. EU tax policy, nothing more (or less)

> Road trips etc.

Entirely possible in the EU and eminently common. The difference is that for many trips, you have the choice to do it the other way too, which is not feasible in the USA for most destinations.

Not only that, but if you choose to travel in a camper, in EU you have a plethora of dirt cheap places to legally pull in overnight that have bathrooms and if you need it water & electric. Essentially absent from the US.

> Hot water in sinks.

Not present in many gas station and campsite handwashing sinks.

> Whole Foods

Present in several cities across the UK. But you cannot be serious. I mean, I shop more or less 100% at WFM, but I can shop just as well, if not better, in the UK or Germany or France.

AGAIN, I ask: what is the evidence that any of this is connected the high risk/high reward entrepeneurial/VC culture of the USA? You seem to just be listing a set of things you like about the USA and waving your hands as if to say "it's all because of the entrepeneurial culture".

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

#110

Post by kasdi »

swyx wrote: post #43
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.

Seems like it was an aqui-hire https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37103910
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