Ask HN: Where do I go from here?

Post by brudgers » Thu, Apr 03, 2014, 4:55 PM UTC

davidfm wrote: post #20

brudgers wrote: post #19

So here's the question: would you bring in a 50-50 partner (both of you on a vesting schedule) in order to scale and not merely grow? That is, would you give someone half the company to triple customers in a year...or something like that? The last seven years is sunk cost and the only effect it can have on the future of the company besides providing a knowledge base is psychological drag. And bringing in a partner wi…

Thanks for that. Interesting. Would I give up 50%? Yes - for the right return. I know I can do much, much better than triple customers if I can leave the technical debt to someone trustworthy. I accept that the last seven years is sunk cost. But I have seven years of amazing customer relations - a network that will flourish into $$$ when I have the opportunity to scale. I also have a product. Maybe not the perfectly…

Post by brudgers » Thu, Apr 03, 2014, 8:54 PM UTC

davidfm wrote: post #22

brudgers wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I used triple just because it's a low but obvious payoff for 50% equity. The immediate problem is not lack of money but lack of staff. Taking VC means turning up the heat on the lack of staff problem, and more money does not identify the right technical candidate, and in my mind at least, you really need a technical candidate who is partner grade and partner committed. Someone without the commitment can leave behind…

OK, get your point on the multiple. Sorry, commenting on my business has me in defensive mode! I recruited and retained several top level devs in my 10 years prior to going it alone. I'm not too worried about that bit. But thanks for making me think about what worked well in the process back then.

Post by david927 » Sat, Apr 05, 2014, 9:09 AM UTC

davidfm wrote: post #18

david927 wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you're sure you can get the business to support it, then go to the bank and get a loan. If you aren't able to do that, you're probably stuck slowly bootstrapping. (You're asking for advice, but it's hard to really help because you haven't given a lot of details.) If you have 20 customers after years and it's not profitable enough to hire more developers, I'm guessing you'll have a hard time finding investors. But…

I looked at cofounderslab a while back. Can't remember what stopped me completing it then. It seems to have evolved a lot. Thanks for replying, much appreciated. Edit: CoFoundersLab looks really hopeful David. It's just gone down for updates but I liked what I saw - thanks again!

Post by read » Mon, Apr 07, 2014, 11:37 AM UTC

rwallace wrote: post #26

davidfm wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know I can get lots of customers very quickly, I'm turning business away. My issue is letting them down because I don't have the resources to support them. (my previous roles were biz-dev, I do that well)

In that case it sounds like your problem isn't lack of capital, it's that you're undercharging. Probably by a lot; technical people, due to whatever quirk of human psychology, almost always massively undercharge. Given that elsewhere you say your customers are huge companies, I would suggest increasing your prices by one or two orders of magnitude - hard to be more specific without knowing details - and seeing where…