Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: Sell my startup for $14M because I can't raise $2M?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 336 posts

Re: Ask HN: Sell my startup for $14M because I can't raise $2M?

#11

Post by austenallred »

A few things, though it's hard without much info (re: revenue/growth).

Regardless:

1. A $14m sale is a huuuge win. You'd be set for life. A 100% likelihood of $14m is something that is difficult to turn down in almost any scenario. Even if you'd eventually make $50m, your life wouldn't change much from a net worth of $14m to $50m. You could buy a nicer jet?

Let's say you take the $14m. Your life would (presumably) change drastically. That's "pay yourself $750k/yr without ever working again" level financial stability. (OK, some of it depends on taxes, but regardless...) If you raise VC, who knows what could happen in the next 5 years? IMO take it if you can.

2. If you want to go bigger, SV isn't the only way to do it. If you have revenue you could potentially raise debt. Hard to do, but perhaps worth it in your scenario.

3. If getting warm introductions is hard, just know that actually raising will be much harder.

Re: Ask HN: Sell my startup for $14M because I can't raise $2M?

#12

Post by bsvalley »

Welcome to Silicon Valley, it's all about networking here. I'd suggest you to sell and to update your Resume - "I created company XYZ acquired by ABC in 2017". That alone will help you fund your next venture. Also, you'll gain a lot of credibility in the Valley and you will be seen as a successful entrepreneur.

Lock your money first, then go out there have fun with your new ideas. You'll be way more focused on your baby and wouldn't even care about all this 'mafia' thing...

Re: Ask HN: Sell my startup for $14M because I can't raise $2M?

#15

Post by tgb »

Off-topic: I thought that tracking email opening was no longer possible in gmail? My memory of it was that you'd insert an image and track whether that was retrieved, but that GMail started caching all images ahead of time for their users so you couldn't tell if/when it was opened. See, eg, [1]. Is that not correct?

[1] https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2013/12/gmail...

Re: Ask HN: Sell my startup for $14M because I can't raise $2M?

#19

Post by jaggederest »

tgb wrote: post #15

Off-topic: I thought that tracking email opening was no longer possible in gmail? My memory of it was that you'd insert an image and track whether that was retrieved, but that GMail started caching all images ahead of time for their users so you couldn't tell if/when it was opened. See, eg, [1]. Is that not correct? [1] https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2013/12/gmail...

No, it only caches when they are requested by the user - google acts more like a proxy. Essentially they're preventing the remote server from grabbing HTTP headers/cookies from gmail users but not preventing them from tracking when it is loaded, chronologically.

Re: Ask HN: Sell my startup for $14M because I can't raise $2M?

#20

Post by beat »

A seed investor/advisor once said to me the biggest mistake he made with his first company was waiting too long to sell. He put in three more years of hard founder-type work on its growth, and with investment dilution, wound up hardly making more than he would have made if he'd sold early to a buyer who was ready to put their own money into scaling.

Especially in the enterprise market, where requirements are complex and sales cycles are difficult, selling out to a big company that has all the pieces in place already can make a huge difference - not just in your bottom line, but the chances of long-term success for your baby.

Post reply on HN