3 Founders, 1 Round & $.72 in the Bank

#1

Post by jmalter » Wed, May 23, 2012, 3:15 PM UTC

Brendan McCorkle recounts the true story of how he and his cofounders (all from DreamIt Ventures) were out of money before their round was raised and how they survived.

3 Founders, 1 Round & $.72 in the Bank
founderdating.com

Re: 3 Founders, 1 Round & $.72 in the Bank

#2

Post by zavulon » Wed, May 23, 2012, 4:07 PM UTC

Nowhere in the post the actual earning of money is mentioned. Yes, I know, all startups these days care about users/eyeballs, but it would be refreshing to read about businesses that actually, you know, have a business model based on earning real money once in a blue moon

Re: 3 Founders, 1 Round & $.72 in the Bank

#3

Post by mweil » Wed, May 23, 2012, 4:10 PM UTC

zavulon wrote: post #2

Nowhere in the post the actual earning of money is mentioned. Yes, I know, all startups these days care about users/eyeballs, but it would be refreshing to read about businesses that actually, you know, have a business model based on earning real money once in a blue moon

It's funny that you mention that, as that is my personal beef with many startups as well. Funding is not a measure of success; revenue is. However, this article is not about revenue. It's about the funding process. Talking about our revenue (which we didn't have at the time, but we do have now) would have been off topic.

Re: 3 Founders, 1 Round & $.72 in the Bank

#4

Post by mintplant » Wed, May 23, 2012, 4:13 PM UTC

zavulon wrote: post #2

Nowhere in the post the actual earning of money is mentioned. Yes, I know, all startups these days care about users/eyeballs, but it would be refreshing to read about businesses that actually, you know, have a business model based on earning real money once in a blue moon

It would seem they do, indeed, have a business model going: https://cloudmine.me/pricing

Re: 3 Founders, 1 Round & $.72 in the Bank

#5

Post by jonathanjaeger » Wed, May 23, 2012, 4:24 PM UTC

How are they different from Kinvey (Techstars company at http://www.kinvey.com)? I'm not a developer, so I'm judging solely on the tagline and design I saw in the first 30 seconds of being on both sites.

Re: 3 Founders, 1 Round & $.72 in the Bank

#6

Post by sbisker » Wed, May 23, 2012, 4:57 PM UTC

Wait, you "closed an oversubscribed round shortly after the events of this story"? How on earth was that pulled off? Was the $15,000 the signal other investors needed to get on board? I feel like I'm only being told half of the story here.

Re: 3 Founders, 1 Round & $.72 in the Bank

#7

Post by mweil » Wed, May 23, 2012, 5:07 PM UTC

sbisker wrote: post #6

Wait, you "closed an oversubscribed round shortly after the events of this story"? How on earth was that pulled off? Was the $15,000 the signal other investors needed to get on board? I feel like I'm only being told half of the story here.

This all happened during the final negotiations of our round. That last bit takes obnoxiously long as lawyers have to talk to one another. That was the awkward chasm we fell into: running out of cash as the final documents for the round were being finalized.

Re: 3 Founders, 1 Round & $.72 in the Bank

#8

Post by debacle » Wed, May 23, 2012, 5:08 PM UTC

Good story, good moral. The understanding that you have to ask them is a tough one to swallow. I still don't know if I'm there yet - I sort of go on autopilot.

> As founders, we have a disproportionate share of the upside of a business, but we also have a disproportionate share of the downside.

Disproportionate to what? You're the founder.

Re: 3 Founders, 1 Round & $.72 in the Bank

#9

Post by debacle » Wed, May 23, 2012, 5:11 PM UTC

jonathanjaeger wrote: post #5

How are they different from Kinvey (Techstars company at http://www.kinvey.com )? I'm not a developer, so I'm judging solely on the tagline and design I saw in the first 30 seconds of being on both sites.

There are a lot of companies coming into the PaaS arena in recent years.

Like anything, some will succeed and some will fail.

Re: 3 Founders, 1 Round & $.72 in the Bank

#10

Post by [deleted] » Wed, May 23, 2012, 5:28 PM UTC

mweil wrote: post #3

zavulon wrote: post #2

Nowhere in the post the actual earning of money is mentioned. Yes, I know, all startups these days care about users/eyeballs, but it would be refreshing to read about businesses that actually, you know, have a business model based on earning real money once in a blue moon

It's funny that you mention that, as that is my personal beef with many startups as well. Funding is not a measure of success; revenue is. However, this article is not about revenue. It's about the funding process. Talking about our revenue (which we didn't have at the time, but we do have now) would have been off topic.

[deleted]