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Well yes, that's called a regular company. Not sure if I'm missing something here?
There's the 'crab' model, but this isn't for startups. They're old, companies like Yahoo who have a moat and can't leave it. They're at evolutionary peak or rather a local maxima. They're too difficult to change and a major change would make them too vulnerable.
Here's a model that exists in Germany, which I like: You can present a business plan to the state's investment bank and apply for several financial aides, including: * 1.5 years of universal basic income for you plus up to 2 other people. It's a tiny amount of money, but the point is to free you up to invest your actual time an money into the business. You do not have to pay this back. * up to 20k EUR in "consulting…
Here's a model that exists in Germany, which I like: You can present a business plan to the state's investment bank and apply for several financial aides, including: * 1.5 years of universal basic income for you plus up to 2 other people. It's a tiny amount of money, but the point is to free you up to invest your actual time an money into the business. You do not have to pay this back. * up to 20k EUR in "consulting…
Here's a model that exists in Germany, which I like: You can present a business plan to the state's investment bank and apply for several financial aides, including: * 1.5 years of universal basic income for you plus up to 2 other people. It's a tiny amount of money, but the point is to free you up to invest your actual time an money into the business. You do not have to pay this back. * up to 20k EUR in "consulting…
Well yes, that's called a regular company. Not sure if I'm missing something here?
'Be a normal person/company and do normal person/company things,' isn't talked about very often, and it can be useful to be reminded that it is a pathway that can lead to success.
Also the other thing that I realised after working with a bunch of VCs is that they are all incredibly dumb. Few VCs are founders themselves and you will have better luck with them but the majority of VCs have simply no idea about product and technology and they are simply pattern matching. What that means is that they will cargo cult everything and if your startup doesn't fit the mold they will not respond to you fa…
Ironically he is now a VC - but a very successful one.
Here's a model that exists in Germany, which I like: You can present a business plan to the state's investment bank and apply for several financial aides, including: * 1.5 years of universal basic income for you plus up to 2 other people. It's a tiny amount of money, but the point is to free you up to invest your actual time an money into the business. You do not have to pay this back. * up to 20k EUR in "consulting…
What these companies have in common is that they start small and then grow organically. The main issue from a VC point of view is not that these aren't good companies but that it can take decades for them to turn into big companies. But from the point of view of the people founding these businesses, it's a good, honest way to succeed in life.
There's nothing wrong with the principle of starting a company to make money from whatever it is you do at whatever scale you are doing it. But it should drive your decision making as to whether or not you give chunks of your company away to an investor. It might stop being your company if you do.
Also, if you go down this path. Stop calling yourself a startup. It scares away customers. They don't want to hear that you are a flaky wannabe that is still figuring it out. They want to hear about your other customers and how awesome whatever it is you are selling is. They want to be re-assured that it is safe for them to enter into a multi year customer relationship with you. Projecting that you are new to all this company stuff and might not be around in six months is exactly the wrong message for them. They don't want to hear about what you are going to do, they want to hear about what you have done already. The stuff that gets VCs horny will scare away customers. If you are pitching customers and VCs at the same time, make sure you have two very different pitches. And if you are going to pitch VCs, it actually helps if you have customers. The more business you have the stronger your negotiation position.