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Remember this is the same jerk who had a tantrum when a Secret founder used a cash-out to buy a Ferrari. The thing that made me livid was this: he wanted inves
by x0x0 11y ago
Remember this is the same jerk who had a tantrum when a Secret founder used a cash-out to buy a Ferrari. The thing that made me livid was this: he wanted investors' money back because Secret failed, but suppose in some (incredibly) hypothetical universe Secret turned into a multi-billion dollar company and that say 5% cash-out cost the founder $250 million. Would Bill have traded the shares back for the cash-out price? Fuck no. So his whining can be condensed to "if my deals don't work out, I want my money back. Call the whambulance!"
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/05/05/the-lessons-google-ventures-learned-from-secret/?_r=0 http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/05/05/the-lessons-google-...
All VCs talk their book, but perhaps Bill more than most. I'm sure his thoughts on companies benefiting from public market discipline are unrelated to IPOs returning his investments.
- coolswan 11y agoI hate going after people who might just have used wrong words to mean something else. But sadly, he has a history of saying anti-entrepreneur things. Perhaps foot in mouth disease is an addiction.
- huac 11y agoWell, it was a 24% cash out, and this is a question of liquidation preference more than anything else.
- x0x0 11y agoThey raised $25m, it was presumably valued at much more. That's a very large cash-out either way, but I think my point stands.
- huac 11y agoYou're not happy with an equity investor thinking that his investment should receive priority liquidation preference? Like I understand he might not come across as a good guy. But his comments are specifically about the scenario where a company fails - should the investors or should the founders have preferential bankruptcy treatment? What else could a VC say?
- JamesBarney 11y agoThe founders of Secret did not withdraw their money after the bankruptcy but during the fundraising previous to the bankruptcy. Liquidation preference during a bankruptcy event is completely orthogonal to "Should founders give back money they got from selling their stock to investors if the stock later tanks?".