Great stuff. It's hard not to buy into the standard startup myth of raising money and going big. 'Lifestyle business' is not a positive term. So I for one salute your courage.
Why I Turned Down $5 Million in VC Funding
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Re: Why I Turned Down $5 Million in VC Funding
#72Earlier quoted context omitted.
Love it or hate it, I bet it drives a lot of subscriptions. This is the service they use, btw http://bounceexchange.com/
Holy wow, that is one of the most obnoxious sites I've ever seen (and like others, I felt the same about the ad on the blog). Leveraging our exclusive "Exit-Intent" technology, Bounce Exchange™ is leading the paradigm shift in automated customer acquisition. I think they actually used one of those parody startup-speak generators.
Holy crap. That is obnoxious.
Frankly, can't believe they managed to patent detecting and responding when the pointer drifts to the top of a web page.
Well, joke's on them. My tabs are off to the side, and I use keyboard to close the window anyway ;)
Re: Why I Turned Down $5 Million in VC Funding
#73TLDR; I turned down 5 million so that I could practically name the investor, get attention for my startup, and still make page 1 of HN. ---- I wonder how investors feel about posts like this. If you are an investor, would it change the way you feel about the CEO or the company?
Who cares? It's not like he's taking their money. edit: I'm not losing sleep over someone hurting the feelings of venture capitalists by publicly saying he didn't take their money when offered. Just as I doubt they're losing sleep over the companies they turn down.
I'm simply curious, that's all.
Re: Why I Turned Down $5 Million in VC Funding
#74Well written article. In my brief stint with YC and other startup circles, I think one big takeaway I've had is that most (or at least many) people who want to start a startup or hit it big with a startup actually really want a lifestyle business. Hyper growth isn't the goal of the founders. Their goal is to create a good product that helps people and allows the founders to live comfortably and be happy with their wo…
I think one big takeaway I've had is that most (or at least many) people who want to start a startup or hit it big with a startup actually really want a lifestyle business. I think that's an important question that potential startup founders need to answer before diving in. $20k/month coming in from a lifestyle business sounds less stressful than being CEO of a startup with a billion dollar valuation.
$20k/month coming in from a lifestyle business sounds less stressful than being CEO of a startup with a billion dollar valuation.
It is also a lot more likely.
Re: Why I Turned Down $5 Million in VC Funding
#75During the dot com boom it was a always an issue if your company took too much VC money. Having a fat bank account balance can make you lazy, you can spend on things you don't need (Aeron Chairs for Everyone!) and you don't "sweat the details." but a lot of the things startup teams need to learn how to do are the exact opposite, spend only when necessary, sweat all the details, understand where every dollar of your m…
I really dislike the specific way in which Aeron chairs have come to symbolize all that was bad about the dot-com era. The nature of that chosen symbol speaks volumes about the values our culture holds. Spending a thousand dollars on every employee to keep them comfortable while they sit at their desk and work for your company all day?! The epitome of profligate spending! A shining example of decadence! For shame, fo…
Perhaps Aeron chairs filling the mostly unused conference room would be a better symbol?
Re: Why I Turned Down $5 Million in VC Funding
#76I just see a HUGE ad asking for my email address and a passive-aggressive "No thanks, I don't want to grow my business", the rest of the page blacked out. I can tell there's content underneath but screw that, I'm not reading it after that.
Sorry about that, should have only popped up if you left the page :( Gonna have to talk to bounceexchnage.com about this... Thanks for the heads up.
> Sorry about that, should have only popped up if you left the page
That's still unnecessary aggressive and irritating. Like most "Are you sure you want to leave this web site?" dialogs that pop up when I close a tab.
Not the best way to give users a good last impression of your site.
Re: Why I Turned Down $5 Million in VC Funding
#77Between this and the recently reading about the Expensify team taking a month trip every year, I have this question: how do people get jobs at these well-meaning, intelligently planned companies? Seems like every startup I've worked at is more of the "OMG GRAB ALL THE CASH ASAP" kind, not the "Lets build happy users for a quality product".
Re: Why I Turned Down $5 Million in VC Funding
#78TLDR; I turned down 5 million so that I could practically name the investor, get attention for my startup, and still make page 1 of HN. ---- I wonder how investors feel about posts like this. If you are an investor, would it change the way you feel about the CEO or the company?
I didn't think he disparaged the investor at all in the post. He simply stated that he didn't need the money. I don't think his decision had anything to do with the investor.
Re: Why I Turned Down $5 Million in VC Funding
#79Between this and the recently reading about the Expensify team taking a month trip every year, I have this question: how do people get jobs at these well-meaning, intelligently planned companies? Seems like every startup I've worked at is more of the "OMG GRAB ALL THE CASH ASAP" kind, not the "Lets build happy users for a quality product".
The new job board from 37Signals would be a good start: https://weworkremotely.com/ They've been beating this drum for a long time now.
Re: Why I Turned Down $5 Million in VC Funding
#80So here's a question... with the new rules around fund-raising, why wouldn't he just throw up a box to this side of this article that says something like: "By the way... now that you've seen our numbers, if you're interested in a buying a small piece of equity in our company, leave your email address and we'll let you know terms." Is there any downside to an approach like this? Setting your own terms and then selling…
Many countries have rules against publicly recommending a stock without a proper certification