3 ms·

Good points here but lots of questions remain: What happens when you have competition with 10x or 50x the VC funding? What happens to long-term product develo

by rsp1984 11y ago

Good points here but lots of questions remain: What happens when you have competition with 10x or 50x the VC funding? What happens to long-term product development when all you do is short term / small-scale improvements in order to 'better serve' your customers? What happens to your core IP advantage that may be several years now but will have disappeared after doing long stretches of "feature" developments to chase after customers?

mmaunder 11y ago
What happens when you have competition with 10x or 50x the VC funding? Money doesn't solve all problems. I've been in a startup that raised $250M and one that raised $55M where all innovation had stalled. Don't assume they're kicking ass because they're rich. There are plenty of professional money burners out there. But if you're faced with a competitor that has their act together (I am and they've raised 360 times what I have) you need to differentiate and move quickly. You'd be surprised the constraints that some startups operate under e.g. boards who want them to be something that you're not even if what you're doing is clearly more lucrative. Or legacy (even in startups) customers they brought on free where it would be akward or embarrasing to explain to them why they're now doing what you're doing in the way you're doing it. What happens to long-term product development when all you do is short term / small-scale improvements in order to 'better serve' your customers? Don't do that. Always play the long game. What happens to your core IP advantage that may be several years now but will have disappeared after doing long stretches of "feature" developments to chase after customers? I have no idea what you're talking about. Sounds like you've misinterpreted 'serving customers' as some kind of short sighted feature focused strategy?
- rsp1984 11y ago
  Well often times as a tech entrepreneur you have the choice between a) working on something that generates revenue in the short term (by adding features, improving the interface, improving your market reach or even doing some service work) and b) something of more impact that generates revenue in the long-term (like investing in R&D, creating entire new products, etc..). Note that b) most often does not include a), i.e. choosing b) explicitly means that you're foregoing some short term revenue opportunities for possibly larger revenue down the road. This is precisely the case for VC (which you've argued against) so I was interested in how you'd solve this dilemma.
  - mmaunder 11y ago
    I think we're in two different realities here. You've misinterpreted what I've said. I've raised VC. We really seem to be missing each other. I don't agree with much of the way you see the world.

by rsp1984 11y ago

mmaunder 11y ago

What happens when you have competition with 10x or 50x the VC funding? Money doesn't solve all problems. I've been in a startup that raised $250M and one that raised $55M where all innovation had stalled. Don't assume they're kicking ass because they're rich. There are plenty of professional money burners out there. But if you're faced with a competitor that has their act together (I am and they've raised 360 times what I have) you need to differentiate and move quickly. You'd be surprised the constraints that some startups operate under e.g. boards who want them to be something that you're not even if what you're doing is clearly more lucrative. Or legacy (even in startups) customers they brought on free where it would be akward or embarrasing to explain to them why they're now doing what you're doing in the way you're doing it. What happens to long-term product development when all you do is short term / small-scale improvements in order to 'better serve' your customers? Don't do that. Always play the long game. What happens to your core IP advantage that may be several years now but will have disappeared after doing long stretches of "feature" developments to chase after customers? I have no idea what you're talking about. Sounds like you've misinterpreted 'serving customers' as some kind of short sighted feature focused strategy?

rsp1984 11y ago
Well often times as a tech entrepreneur you have the choice between a) working on something that generates revenue in the short term (by adding features, improving the interface, improving your market reach or even doing some service work) and b) something of more impact that generates revenue in the long-term (like investing in R&D, creating entire new products, etc..). Note that b) most often does not include a), i.e. choosing b) explicitly means that you're foregoing some short term revenue opportunities for possibly larger revenue down the road. This is precisely the case for VC (which you've argued against) so I was interested in how you'd solve this dilemma.
- mmaunder 11y ago
  I think we're in two different realities here. You've misinterpreted what I've said. I've raised VC. We really seem to be missing each other. I don't agree with much of the way you see the world.