Protect Kids, Get F*cked

Lol totally evil product based on making people lives awful through fake fear.

But I guess that's many successful products, make people feel bad or their lives are missing 'something' and give them the solution for the $

Myself and friends have often talked about it. Be unethical but make money. Individual vs Herd mentality. And in the first world is it really that evil to fool the people who fall for it? I find it hard personally but maybe that's a weakness I should train to get over, not sure. I do give a % of my wage to 3rd world charity so would I still be up positive ethics wise.

Interesting article to see into that world anyway, something to think about.

A good deal? From what I've heard, every single VC in Silicon Valley shares this unhealthy obsession over "the next Twitter" (Just read pg's definition of "startup").

And as long as Twitter, Google and Facebook keep paying 8 figure (or 10 figure) sums to acquire "startups" without a business model, VCs don't need to know anything about real business.

If you had the power to edit it yourself,what would you change it to? And why?

Talk about counting your chickens before they hatch ... and not just about the part where they moved or added a board member before the money hit the bank account, but even the little "celebration" in Vegas. How is raising money a reason to celebrate in Vegas... especially when it hasn't even hit the bank yet?

While I feel bad for the founders here and the VC behavior is deplorable, a little cautiousness and common sense would have really saved the day here. "Let's not move until the money is in the bank, ok? Hey board member -- just step back for a few minutes until the wire clears. Once it does, we're all yours."

... All that being said ..... BIG KUDOS to the team for getting the investors their money back:

"We sold the assets for what our original investors had put in to the company, about $1.5 million, so we were able to give them their money back."

That's great -- I know very few entrepreneurs who have gotten well past the point of raising capital who can claim to have returned investor money.

So, while you might have gotten the Big Screw by VCs, in part due to their shadyness and in part due to your own over-enthusiasm and lack of diligence, I think you saved the day for your investors. They may not invest with you again, but they can't say they lost money with you either.

A bit off of the main point, but

> Age? Sex? Location? That’s how predators started their hunt.

And how non-predators start their hunt (the same way that predators in the 1800s started their letters with "Dear Timmy").

It's a completely nonspecific starter question for anyone who is chatting with a stranger, and I wish the author were more careful with this.