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My Startup has 30 Days to Live

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Re: My Startup has 30 Days to Live

#121

Post by beat »

throwit1979 wrote: post #26
damon_c wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can't you wait till he gets back so he can have a good vacation?...Although I've seen the whole "got fired upon returning from vacation" thing happen a few times. That sucks too! Sorry for both of you.

Apparently you missed the part about not meeting payroll. There are few things worse( legally, in employment law )than missing payroll.

Ugh. I remember what it was like the first time the 2000-era dotcom I was at missed payroll. A co-worker and I had taken the day off to take our kids to the state fair, and found our money wasn't where we thought it would be. They announced the payroll shortfall the day it happened, in company email we didn't read because we were off that day.

Kinda sucked.

Re: My Startup has 30 Days to Live

#122

Post by ChuckMcM »

jpdoctor wrote: post #101
ChuckMcM wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think commanding on the Battlefield is the wrong metaphor, we use it a lot but its not a battle, its a sport. When you tell your developer you can't afford to pay him any more it isn't that he (or she) "dies" its that they move on to their next job. Is it painful? Of course. But it isn't death. Sports analogies work better since there is always next season with some of the same and some different players. You decid…

> Is it painful? Of course. But it isn't death. No, but firing somebody who is the head of household and has major medical issues at home, is a helluva lot more serious than 4th down.

Absolutely it's serious. But if we're talking laying someone off because you can't make payroll, that is quite different than dismissing them for cause. Generally the latter is what I think of as 'firing'.

There are scenarios one can construct that are quite painful, the person you convinced to move out of their home town away from an ok job and family to work for you who, due to the high cost of living, had a really long commute and got into a vehicle accident their first week, because they had been putting in 80 hour weeks to come up to speed quickly, that put them into the hospital but they they hadn't worked long enough to qualify for California Disability Insurance. Can we make it any worse? Perhaps their girlfriend found out she was expecting that week and so that was why this poor guy was rushing home? And your startup goes out of business because the lead investor pulled out just before the round closes, so now they don't have a job.

I'm sure we could pile more on.

My point is that the common case, the general case, is that people have multiple jobs throughout their lives. Sometimes it is wonderful, sometimes it sucks, but when they are 60 looking back at their 20's it will be part of a much larger tapestry of experience. If for the majority of people it isn't the end of their world.

Re: My Startup has 30 Days to Live

#123

Post by eclipxe »

greghinch wrote: post #117
dkrich wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And why isn't a barber shop a startup? Great Clips and Super Cuts were once new, fledgling businesses. Not charging money, taking VC investment, joining an incubator, and creating a stupid name that ends in "fy" or "ly" a startup does not make. BTW, I've read the essay. I like most of what he writes, but I have a fundamental disagreement on this one and just because it comes from the hands of PG does not make it gosp…

There's nothing to say a bootstrapped company can't become a a startup. When they start going for growth Edit: See below, I was referring to accelerated growth

Please, just re-read what you wrote and tell me you're saying this with a straight face.

Re: My Startup has 30 Days to Live

#124

Post by coolsunglasses »

greghinch wrote: post #117
dkrich wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And why isn't a barber shop a startup? Great Clips and Super Cuts were once new, fledgling businesses. Not charging money, taking VC investment, joining an incubator, and creating a stupid name that ends in "fy" or "ly" a startup does not make. BTW, I've read the essay. I like most of what he writes, but I have a fundamental disagreement on this one and just because it comes from the hands of PG does not make it gosp…

There's nothing to say a bootstrapped company can't become a a startup. When they start going for growth Edit: See below, I was referring to accelerated growth

Self-fulfilling stereotype.

PG doesn't exclusively define the startup world.

Is there really any point in Github's development that anyone would've doubted it was a startup?

Re: My Startup has 30 Days to Live

#125

Post by greghinch »

eclipxe wrote: post #123
greghinch wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's nothing to say a bootstrapped company can't become a a startup. When they start going for growth Edit: See below, I was referring to accelerated growth

Please, just re-read what you wrote and tell me you're saying this with a straight face.

I should have prefaced it as "accelerated" growth.

But I stand by that.

Re: My Startup has 30 Days to Live

#126

Post by danmaz74 »

greghinch wrote: post #117
dkrich wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And why isn't a barber shop a startup? Great Clips and Super Cuts were once new, fledgling businesses. Not charging money, taking VC investment, joining an incubator, and creating a stupid name that ends in "fy" or "ly" a startup does not make. BTW, I've read the essay. I like most of what he writes, but I have a fundamental disagreement on this one and just because it comes from the hands of PG does not make it gosp…

There's nothing to say a bootstrapped company can't become a a startup. When they start going for growth Edit: See below, I was referring to accelerated growth

I'm glad you changed your mind. Maybe you could make an amendment to your first post, if you really mean this. bootstrapped != not built to grow

Re: My Startup has 30 Days to Live

#127

Post by 31reasons »

dkrich wrote: post #107
enraged_camel wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A barber shop is a new, fledgling business, but it is not a startup. PG wrote an essay on this - you should read it.

And why isn't a barber shop a startup? Great Clips and Super Cuts were once new, fledgling businesses. Not charging money, taking VC investment, joining an incubator, and creating a stupid name that ends in "fy" or "ly" a startup does not make. BTW, I've read the essay. I like most of what he writes, but I have a fundamental disagreement on this one and just because it comes from the hands of PG does not make it gosp…

Couldn't agree more.

Re: My Startup has 30 Days to Live

#128

Post by kirillzubovsky »

6d0debc071 wrote: post #87
alsostayinganon wrote: post #67

The grass is always greener on the other side. I too am running a startup with a downward trajectory. We have more like 6-12 months of runway left but things aren't looking good. Our path tracks your alternate reality. I started a project several years ago that took off. It wasn't meant to be a business at the beginning but once it started getting traction I slowly devoted more and more time to it. It was "profitable…

If you know you're screwed, and you've made a couple of million bucks, why aren't you just closing up the company and going home to have a money party? That probably sounds quite harsh if it's something you love, but a million bucks is like economic freedom for life, and you can try again with a different idea later where there's less active competition. Sounds to me like you did pretty well for yourself.

In this day and age, a million bucks is not even close to an economic freedom. @webwright has a good post on what he calls "Fuck you money", the amount you'd need to retire rich. Well worth the read.

http://www.tonywright.com/2010/no-you-cant-retire-rich-at-30...

Re: My Startup has 30 Days to Live

#130

Post by 31reasons »

jt2190 wrote: post #46
hidingmyname wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not a cautionary tale, just a blog to vent my frustrations and record the experience. I'm not in a position to give "advice" nor do I suggest anyone follows "advice". If you're a new founder and about to get on the VC train, through the accelerator and out again at light speed, it's good to know that this is one way it can all end up. (Nobody really speaks about it anyhow)

Here are some lessons I'm taking away from this article: > ... our initial desire to not raise a seed round was > dismissed and we were thoroughly convinced that we had > to continue on the VC rocket-ship in order to matter to > anyone. My reluctance to do this was met by scoffs and > dismissals from many others in the accelerator cohort... > as well as by the mentors and investors who had offered > their time, netwo…

For a VC your company is just 1 of 1000 they have invested in and so they are focused more on the numbers game. But for you it could be your life's work. It seems taking VC money early on is a big mistake for serious founders.
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