151–160 of 169 posts
For me, reading Paul Graham's writings has taken on something of the flavor of a Phillip Roth novel. I'm committing voyeurism, watching the inner life of the protagonist, PG, mature. There's an arc to the narrative. Around the turn of the millennium, the brashness born of 1990's success transformed his writing from youthfully exuberant technical expertise [2] toward experienced practical advice [3]. In Before the Sta…
"[1] Some founders listen more than others, and this tends to be a predictor of success. One of the things I remember about the Airbnbs during YC is how intently they listened." - Looks like a case of survivor bias. How many founders who listened as intently did not build Airbnbs ? "[4] What should you do if your true calling is gaming the system? Management consulting." - Nailed it.
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I don't really remember those two talking about startups being gameable in the way that PG is talking about megacorps. Most of the reasons they prefer bootstrapping vs startups are around the idea that bootstrapping has a predicable model for success. Where as your chances of a successful exit in a startup are like winning the powerball. Even PG notes that one good exit covers the losses of hundreds of other investme…
Bootstrapping is not excluded from being a startup. 98% of all startups in Canada, for example (tech included) are self-funded. There ultimately is little freedom from bosses. Either your VC's are, or paying customers are.
If the goal of your company is to grow as fast as possible, then the VC rocket ship approach seems like a no-brainer.
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Bootstrapping is not excluded from being a startup. 98% of all startups in Canada, for example (tech included) are self-funded. There ultimately is little freedom from bosses. Either your VC's are, or paying customers are.
>There ultimately is little freedom from bosses. Either your VC's are, or paying customers are. I hear this line often, and I think it switches terms. I'm a bootstrapper. When I say I don't have a boss, I don't mean I don't have responsibilities. I have a ton of responsibilities – maybe more so than those with jobs. I can't easily take a 100% off vacation, for example. But I don't have a boss. I can arrange things ho…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
>There ultimately is little freedom from bosses. Either your VC's are, or paying customers are. I hear this line often, and I think it switches terms. I'm a bootstrapper. When I say I don't have a boss, I don't mean I don't have responsibilities. I have a ton of responsibilities – maybe more so than those with jobs. I can't easily take a 100% off vacation, for example. But I don't have a boss. I can arrange things ho…
Actually you can fire your boss, that's called quitting. And if you're a tech worker, you really have the freedom to do it because it's easy to find something else if you're decently competent.
Quitting is (to the extent the metaphor works at all) firing your employer, not your boss; these can sometimes be the same, but often your boss is, like you, an employee of your employer, not someone with whom you engage in a direct exchange that you can terminate.
If a line supervisor isn't given permission to terminate his subordinates' employment (because, e.g., that's reserved for a higher-level manager), but can quit, it would be wrong to say he can fire his employees. Likewise, it is wrong to say you can fire your boss unless you can terminate the boss's employment.
For me, reading Paul Graham's writings has taken on something of the flavor of a Phillip Roth novel. I'm committing voyeurism, watching the inner life of the protagonist, PG, mature. There's an arc to the narrative. Around the turn of the millennium, the brashness born of 1990's success transformed his writing from youthfully exuberant technical expertise [2] toward experienced practical advice [3]. In Before the Sta…
Your footnote [1] is disowned.
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Sounds like you've had some negative experiences with your bank. I would beware of "specialized finance firms" that have "sprung up overnight". Typically their lines are very limited and come with huge rates. I don't think there's really much complexity to technology businesses that most competent finance guys can't figure out. They are looking at your P&L and financials for some key ratios, pretty simple. Regardless…
first of all, "pop up overnight" is in "quotes" because they didn't pop up over night. this industry and firms have been in existence for decades but only grew quickly in the last 10 years because commercial banks stopped lending money . did you hear about something called the "credit crisis"? second, what you're saying is so blindingly obvious that it doesn't even need to be said - startups do not fall into the cate…
The claim made is that "gaming doesn't work on users". The claim breaks down when selling to the enterprise.
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first of all, "pop up overnight" is in "quotes" because they didn't pop up over night. this industry and firms have been in existence for decades but only grew quickly in the last 10 years because commercial banks stopped lending money . did you hear about something called the "credit crisis"? second, what you're saying is so blindingly obvious that it doesn't even need to be said - startups do not fall into the cate…
--startups do not fall into the category of traditional businesses with strong P&Ls and great balance sheets-- So as a bootstrapper are you still taking this approach past year 3 or 4? At a certain point you need to hone in on that repeatable / scalable business model and put up some numbers or fold. If you're a couple years in and have bootstrapped past breakeven your funding options AND odds of survival are greatly…
when the bank sees this, they will flip the fuck out. but someone with experience in your industry and a specific financial product designed to help you will know exactly what you're doing.
it's repeatable, it's scalable - however, it requires money to grow just like every other business. this isn't skating by on ultra thin margins with $50k in the bank - it's a business with significant cash that needs significantly more cash, and is willing to sacrifice margins in the short term to grow. and that's not what banks do (these days).
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Bootstrapping is not excluded from being a startup. 98% of all startups in Canada, for example (tech included) are self-funded. There ultimately is little freedom from bosses. Either your VC's are, or paying customers are.
>There ultimately is little freedom from bosses. Either your VC's are, or paying customers are. I hear this line often, and I think it switches terms. I'm a bootstrapper. When I say I don't have a boss, I don't mean I don't have responsibilities. I have a ton of responsibilities – maybe more so than those with jobs. I can't easily take a 100% off vacation, for example. But I don't have a boss. I can arrange things ho…