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Has anyone just completed an exit?

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Re: Has anyone just completed an exit?

#11

Post by steve___ »

pxlpshr wrote: post #6
shafqat wrote: post #3

What was the actual startup that they exited?

porchlight.ca - an ISP. I don't think a 13-year business with under $3M in revenue is a startup, sounds more like a lifestyle business. It's also not something VCs would be interested in. This falls under super-laid back, and not something most people on HN would likely be attracted either. The serial entrepreneurs I admire have done 2-4 businesses in 10 years, all with exits well over $50M.

I started the business as a hobby in 1995 while I completed high school. In 1999 I met Jim and became much more focused. I didn't have the 'startup' concept until 2005 when I read Paul Graham's essay, "How to Make Wealth". In hindsight we should have exited the company somewhere between 2003 and 2005.

re: not something VCs are interested in - we didn't require VC money. I do not think VC money is always necessary in starting a company. If anything I believe it adds a layer of complexity which could hurt founders especially with their first go at it.

re: laid back - I guess this is relative. I do know things were much more stressful and frantic in 2001. I also know we are more focused today and complete far more in 10 hours now than we did back then.

Re: Has anyone just completed an exit?

#12

Post by Luc »

pxlpshr wrote: post #6
shafqat wrote: post #3

What was the actual startup that they exited?

porchlight.ca - an ISP. I don't think a 13-year business with under $3M in revenue is a startup, sounds more like a lifestyle business. It's also not something VCs would be interested in. This falls under super-laid back, and not something most people on HN would likely be attracted either. The serial entrepreneurs I admire have done 2-4 businesses in 10 years, all with exits well over $50M.

The entrepreneurs I admire have built long-lasting businesses that continue to pay out dividends year after year. I don't see why flipping half-baked businesses would be a more noble goal than that. Also, I don't care what VCs are interested in and don't believe even small businesses are 'super-laid back'. Besides, if you admire statistical outliers you are likely to end up with nothing.

Re: Has anyone just completed an exit?

#13

Post by pwnstigator »

iiijjjiii wrote: post #10
pwnstigator wrote: post #8

Note: insisting that your co-founders have "completed an exit" is not going to make you any friends here, because you're suggesting that you're better than others less experienced or less fortunate who have not. Success is obviously preferable to failure, and we all believe that we're talented to a degree that gives us a high enough likelihood of success for startups to be worth pursuing. However, this sort of extrem…

If you pose a general question to a startup crowd "Are you interested in joining a startup" you get everyone and their grandmother responding. The "completed an exit" requirement acts as a filter. We're hoping it will improve the signal to noise ratio.

"Are you interested enough in a startup to be willing to work for X months for mostly equity, knowing full well that the project has a risk of failure?"

There's your filter.

Re: Has anyone just completed an exit?

#14

Post by [deleted] »

iiijjjiii wrote: post #10
pwnstigator wrote: post #8

Note: insisting that your co-founders have "completed an exit" is not going to make you any friends here, because you're suggesting that you're better than others less experienced or less fortunate who have not. Success is obviously preferable to failure, and we all believe that we're talented to a degree that gives us a high enough likelihood of success for startups to be worth pursuing. However, this sort of extrem…

If you pose a general question to a startup crowd "Are you interested in joining a startup" you get everyone and their grandmother responding. The "completed an exit" requirement acts as a filter. We're hoping it will improve the signal to noise ratio.

[deleted]

Re: Has anyone just completed an exit?

#15

Post by pxlpshr »

steve___ wrote: post #11
pxlpshr wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

porchlight.ca - an ISP. I don't think a 13-year business with under $3M in revenue is a startup, sounds more like a lifestyle business. It's also not something VCs would be interested in. This falls under super-laid back, and not something most people on HN would likely be attracted either. The serial entrepreneurs I admire have done 2-4 businesses in 10 years, all with exits well over $50M.

I started the business as a hobby in 1995 while I completed high school. In 1999 I met Jim and became much more focused. I didn't have the 'startup' concept until 2005 when I read Paul Graham's essay, "How to Make Wealth". In hindsight we should have exited the company somewhere between 2003 and 2005. re: not something VCs are interested in - we didn't require VC money. I do not think VC money is always necessary in…

I think you should call this out somewhere because your about page certainly does not paint the whole story. My assumption above was simply the result of reading what is likely the most important page. A lifestyle business was my first conclusion based on your tone and sparse details.

Bad VCs add complexity and it's wrong to stereotype all of them as the same, where there is capital there is greed. Good VCs bring a ton of value outside of just money.

Re: Has anyone just completed an exit?

#16

Post by pxlpshr »

Luc wrote: post #12
pxlpshr wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

porchlight.ca - an ISP. I don't think a 13-year business with under $3M in revenue is a startup, sounds more like a lifestyle business. It's also not something VCs would be interested in. This falls under super-laid back, and not something most people on HN would likely be attracted either. The serial entrepreneurs I admire have done 2-4 businesses in 10 years, all with exits well over $50M.

The entrepreneurs I admire have built long-lasting businesses that continue to pay out dividends year after year. I don't see why flipping half-baked businesses would be a more noble goal than that. Also, I don't care what VCs are interested in and don't believe even small businesses are 'super-laid back'. Besides, if you admire statistical outliers you are likely to end up with nothing.

I agree with you about building a value-focused business. However, in the context of this author's post in which they are "looking for co-founders to build, exit, and repeat"... the serial-enterprenuers I admire have done 3-4 $50M+ businesses in 10 years.

Serial entrepreneurs are necessary, they keep MBA students employed. That was just a joke. :)

Re: Has anyone just completed an exit?

#17

Post by steve___ »

davidw wrote: post #9
pwnstigator wrote: post #8

Note: insisting that your co-founders have "completed an exit" is not going to make you any friends here, because you're suggesting that you're better than others less experienced or less fortunate who have not. Success is obviously preferable to failure, and we all believe that we're talented to a degree that gives us a high enough likelihood of success for startups to be worth pursuing. However, this sort of extrem…

As someone whose closest proximity to a successful exit was a bunch of stock options in failed dot.com Linuxcare, I don't take umbrage at the requirement. They want to use that as a filter, let them. They'll miss out on some good people, but that's their choice, and as good as any in terms of screening people.

Yeah, it is difficult to know exactly how to go about it. As Jim said above we ran into the problem of too much noise when we presented the idea locally.

No one wants to be excluded. On the same breath, when I started out I had many preconceived notions about the best way to run a company based on what I thought was common sense. Only by trying things and tracking the results was I able to see that the right approach wasn't always intuitive. I understand things now that I couldn't have known without the actual experience of starting the company and taking it through to the exit. I'd prefer to start the next venture with people already at that stage, if possible.

All that said, we're really most interested in people who are good friends; who have worked closely together and understand each other very well.

Re: Has anyone just completed an exit?

#18

Post by iiijjjiii »

pwnstigator wrote: post #13
iiijjjiii wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you pose a general question to a startup crowd "Are you interested in joining a startup" you get everyone and their grandmother responding. The "completed an exit" requirement acts as a filter. We're hoping it will improve the signal to noise ratio.

"Are you interested enough in a startup to be willing to work for X months for mostly equity, knowing full well that the project has a risk of failure?" There's your filter.

Yeah, I know what you're saying. However, we often fool ourselves about what we're capable of. If someone has developed a startup and completed an exit and they're prepared to go at it again, that speaks much louder than someone who claims they are willing but has never done it.

Re: Has anyone just completed an exit?

#19

Post by iiijjjiii »

How would you go about finding co-founders?

We've run a decent company in the past. We're going to start another. We're looking for 2 or 3 co-founders. We've tried different things, posting on startup blogs but the responses were generally from people with little experience or others who were fixed on a pet project they've been working on after hours. So we created a website with info and posted a link here hoping for some constructive feedback.

Do you have any other suggestions?

Re: Has anyone just completed an exit?

#20

Post by pwnstigator »

iiijjjiii wrote: post #18
pwnstigator wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Are you interested enough in a startup to be willing to work for X months for mostly equity, knowing full well that the project has a risk of failure?" There's your filter.

Yeah, I know what you're saying. However, we often fool ourselves about what we're capable of. If someone has developed a startup and completed an exit and they're prepared to go at it again, that speaks much louder than someone who claims they are willing but has never done it.

Of course.

What's obnoxious about "completed an exit" is that talented people can fail to meet this for reasons that aren't their fault. Possibly the VC wanted to aim for an IPO, they failed because of the downturn, and now they haven't "completed an exit". I know of stories like this.

I wouldn't bat an eye if you said you were looking for people with substantial entrepreneurial experience. I just think the specific criterion of "completed an exit" is obnoxious. It sounds like you think you're too good to talk to people who are talented but haven't had their break yet.

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