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I bootstrapped my startup so I indeed never needed outside money (well rather never really tried given that we started during the 2000-2002 nuclear winter). Bu

by pesenti 11y ago

I bootstrapped my startup so I indeed never needed outside money (well rather never really tried given that we started during the 2000-2002 nuclear winter). But if I had to do it again, especially in the current VC environment, I would raise money. It can be slow and tedious to bootstrap (took us 12 years to grow to 125 people and exit) and a lot of good startups in Pittsburgh seem eternally stuck in the seed stage.

prgmatic 11y ago
Even if you do need to raise money, why is it a necessity to run your company out of the same city that your investors are in? I've never had to personally raise money for a startup, but I see a lot of the face-to-face meetings starting off as warm email/phone intros. Even if you have to constantly travel to NY/CA/* to meet prospective investors isn't it still a better value to run a business somewhere with a low cost of living?
- pesenti 11y ago
  You don't. But investors tend to invest a big chunk of their money locally (they don't like to travel for board meetings...)
  - tim333 11y ago
    I can see that. Imagine you're someone like Sequoia with "1,156 Investments in 664 Companies" according to crunchbase. It would do your head in flying all over the country to see them all. Maybe the answer is to come to where the money is for raising and then set an office back home.
- x0x0 11y ago
  Part of what an investor provides is a network. That network tends to be where the investor is.
- BinaryIdiot 11y ago
  > Even if you do need to raise money, why is it a necessity to run your company out of the same city that your investors are in? It's almost never necessary but try telling an investor that. The amount of investors that said no to the start-up I'm currently working at, simply because it was on the East coast (that was literally the only reason given), was simply astonishing. In a world where you can be anywhere in essentially, physically, in less than a day (typically hours domestically) or instantly digitally technology investors would stick their noses up due to physical location. I love SF but it just didn't make sense at the time and it's still insanely expensive there!
  - VLM 11y ago
    > "digitally technology investors would stick their noses up due to physical location." Either they're correct, although there seems to be no logical reason why or any sane rationalization for it, or they're leaving great piles of money on the table for more open minded investors to snatch up, or they're not really in it for the money (retirement hobby, its for social signalling, etc).

by pesenti 11y ago

prgmatic 11y ago

Even if you do need to raise money, why is it a necessity to run your company out of the same city that your investors are in? I've never had to personally raise money for a startup, but I see a lot of the face-to-face meetings starting off as warm email/phone intros. Even if you have to constantly travel to NY/CA/* to meet prospective investors isn't it still a better value to run a business somewhere with a low cost of living?

pesenti 11y ago
You don't. But investors tend to invest a big chunk of their money locally (they don't like to travel for board meetings...)
- tim333 11y ago
  I can see that. Imagine you're someone like Sequoia with "1,156 Investments in 664 Companies" according to crunchbase. It would do your head in flying all over the country to see them all. Maybe the answer is to come to where the money is for raising and then set an office back home.
x0x0 11y ago
Part of what an investor provides is a network. That network tends to be where the investor is.
BinaryIdiot 11y ago
> Even if you do need to raise money, why is it a necessity to run your company out of the same city that your investors are in? It's almost never necessary but try telling an investor that. The amount of investors that said no to the start-up I'm currently working at, simply because it was on the East coast (that was literally the only reason given), was simply astonishing. In a world where you can be anywhere in essentially, physically, in less than a day (typically hours domestically) or instantly digitally technology investors would stick their noses up due to physical location. I love SF but it just didn't make sense at the time and it's still insanely expensive there!
- VLM 11y ago
  > "digitally technology investors would stick their noses up due to physical location." Either they're correct, although there seems to be no logical reason why or any sane rationalization for it, or they're leaving great piles of money on the table for more open minded investors to snatch up, or they're not really in it for the money (retirement hobby, its for social signalling, etc).