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summary: Tease investors suck the life out of startups.

• juwo 20y ago
  ditto that for tease customers and tease cofounders. My ruinous experience!
• mattjaynes 20y ago
  Actually, the summary should be: "Tease investors (cough, in this definition all investors) suck the life out of WEAK startups." Startups that really have any potential will not be phased by a trivial 'setback' like this. From my notes on pg's talk the other day: Some founders approach investors as if they are asking for permission to start a company. That is very much the wrong approach. You need to make it clear that the train is leaving and if they want to be on it, they better get on. That being said, you have to mean it 100%, because if you don't, they'll be able to tell. A good way to mean it 100% is to have a solid backup plan. What also helps is to start cheap and avoid doing the expensive things till later so you don't need the investment, but can get real momentum going for your company. You're startup needs to be like a cockroach - hard to kill, even after a nuclear war. Don't be a delicate beautiful flower, be a cockroach.