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I'm surprised by the points 1 and 3. I started a company 2 months ago as solo founder and I work everyday on the product (a SaaS for small/mid companies). I re

I'm surprised by the points 1 and 3. I started a company 2 months ago as solo founder and I work everyday on the product (a SaaS for small/mid companies). I really have no free time to do marketing yet or promote my idea. I just focus on having a MVP. 1. "Decline invitations from VCs to drink a coffee" I've never received any attention from a VC, like probably most founders when they started their first company. It seems to me inappropriate to suggest this in "first point" of "how to start a company". Or maybe it's common in SV? 3. "Hire awesome people" It would be really great but I can't even pay an intern.

chrisabrams 10y ago
I'm curious as to what the author's goal in writing this point. The point itself could have been achieved without mentioning VCs. It's pretty rare to "persistently" be contacted by any VCs, even if you live in SV. Most the startup founders I know would love to have this VC "persistence" problem.
- brianwawok 10y ago
  Building her brand I suspect. "Look at meeeeee"
  - 31reasons 10y ago
    Exactly. Its kind of similar to Hollywood where people boast about their connections to so and so producers, directors etc.
- bbcbasic 10y ago
  I'm a parent who now knows about her app. If I lived in the states hell I'd probably use it
blizkreeg 10y ago
She's likely well connected, certainly better than most first-time founders. Don't feel dejected. Even Travis Kalanick had to tweet and hope someone responds (like mere mortals) to find his BD person.
- rezashirazian 10y ago
  I have a feeling this whole article is an attempt at a super meta/reverse psychology maneuver to grab VCs attention.
ryandrake 10y ago
Yea, kind of bizarre, especially as point #1. How would a VC even know you're working on a start-up? I also don't get random E-mails from VCs asking me whether I am working on a start-up and if so would I like to drink a beverage. Is this really a common problem for people?
- jakobegger 10y ago
  I assume that the author already had funding when she decided talking to VCs was a waste of time. It makes sense; at some point you need to stop networking and just do the work. Also, I assume that well connected female founders in an untapped market really get a lot more calls than average.
- olalonde 10y ago
  Not saying the advice is right or wrong but VCs that "send invitations to drink a coffee" are usually lower level employees with little to no decision making power. Job titles at VC firms are a bit misleading too (e.g. "Principals / Associates" are relatively low level employees and rarely have a vote in deals). It might be common knowledge but I was surprised by this when I initially found out.
- JoblessWonder 10y ago
  She had an article written about her on TechCrunch. That would likely put her on a lot of VC's radar.
- nols 10y ago
  She's a lot more popular than your average person, and more tied into SV than most. Her resume includes Google, Youtube, Twitter, and Postmates before founding her own company, plus she's got 35K followers on Twitter and had a TechCrunch article written about the startup. I think a lot of what she wrote is applicable but she also moves in spheres the average person doesn't.
  - ggregoire 10y ago
    Thank you for the clarification. It makes more sense in this context.
shawn-furyan 10y ago
Heh... I'll say that these points are not surprising to me. The title (as well as the, urm, Medium) strongly suggested a Silicon Valley bubble point of view. I didn't read the article, and instead came to the comments to see if my initial expectations were wrong (in which case I may have decided to read it). It seems my expectations were in the ballpark.
amorphid 10y ago
>> Decline invitations from VCs to drink a coffee More generally I read this as... What are my priorities? 100% focus on building an MVP with resources I have now. Someone with resources I may need later wants to chat now. Does that fit into my priorities? No. Politely decline, offering to keep them updated as my priorities start to consider the need for external resources.
hodgesrm 10y ago
I wouldn't take point 1 literally. It's more like avoid time-wasting meetings which also includes conferences, entrepreneur meetups, team-building seminars, you name it. (Unless the people you are selling to are at those meetings in which case it's probably not a waste of time.)
- smustin 10y ago
  Thank you! That is what I meant. More generally, don't waste your time chatting with people (unless they are your potential customers and you're trying to get to product market fit). Spend your time BUILDING!
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
rezashirazian 10y ago
I Agree, this is not a good article. Somewhat generic solutions for improbable problems.
rpedela 10y ago
For #1, I get random emails now and then from various equity firms including VC. If your startup is listed on AngelList, Crunchbase, or other startup lists then you will likely get them. Or you are in the news for some reason like winning a competition. BTW I am not in SV and not well connected.
erikb 10y ago
Think about it for a moment. You don't have VCs chasing you to do what they expect from you (drink coffee with them) but probably other people, e.g. parents who want you to get the best grades possible, a group of friends who expect you to go with them to cinema like you do every Tuesday night, etc. And as an entrepreneur building the MVP is ONE OF YOUR LOWEST PRIORITIES! Product market fit is, and for that you need to have a MVP, but you don't need to build it. Fake it or try to get the money to have someone else build it while you find more money and other awesome people to work with. If you want to figure out everything after you create your MVP and your MVP is taking more than a few hours/days to set up, then you are just a programmer who dreams about getting rich, not an entrepreneur. Nothing wrong about it, but it's a different thing.

chrisabrams 10y ago

I'm curious as to what the author's goal in writing this point. The point itself could have been achieved without mentioning VCs. It's pretty rare to "persistently" be contacted by any VCs, even if you live in SV. Most the startup founders I know would love to have this VC "persistence" problem.

brianwawok 10y ago
Building her brand I suspect. "Look at meeeeee"
- 31reasons 10y ago
  Exactly. Its kind of similar to Hollywood where people boast about their connections to so and so producers, directors etc.
bbcbasic 10y ago
I'm a parent who now knows about her app. If I lived in the states hell I'd probably use it

blizkreeg 10y ago

She's likely well connected, certainly better than most first-time founders. Don't feel dejected. Even Travis Kalanick had to tweet and hope someone responds (like mere mortals) to find his BD person.

rezashirazian 10y ago
I have a feeling this whole article is an attempt at a super meta/reverse psychology maneuver to grab VCs attention.

ryandrake 10y ago

Yea, kind of bizarre, especially as point #1. How would a VC even know you're working on a start-up? I also don't get random E-mails from VCs asking me whether I am working on a start-up and if so would I like to drink a beverage. Is this really a common problem for people?

jakobegger 10y ago
I assume that the author already had funding when she decided talking to VCs was a waste of time. It makes sense; at some point you need to stop networking and just do the work. Also, I assume that well connected female founders in an untapped market really get a lot more calls than average.
olalonde 10y ago
Not saying the advice is right or wrong but VCs that "send invitations to drink a coffee" are usually lower level employees with little to no decision making power. Job titles at VC firms are a bit misleading too (e.g. "Principals / Associates" are relatively low level employees and rarely have a vote in deals). It might be common knowledge but I was surprised by this when I initially found out.
JoblessWonder 10y ago
She had an article written about her on TechCrunch. That would likely put her on a lot of VC's radar.
nols 10y ago
She's a lot more popular than your average person, and more tied into SV than most. Her resume includes Google, Youtube, Twitter, and Postmates before founding her own company, plus she's got 35K followers on Twitter and had a TechCrunch article written about the startup. I think a lot of what she wrote is applicable but she also moves in spheres the average person doesn't.
- ggregoire 10y ago
  Thank you for the clarification. It makes more sense in this context.

shawn-furyan 10y ago

Heh... I'll say that these points are not surprising to me. The title (as well as the, urm, Medium) strongly suggested a Silicon Valley bubble point of view. I didn't read the article, and instead came to the comments to see if my initial expectations were wrong (in which case I may have decided to read it). It seems my expectations were in the ballpark.

amorphid 10y ago

>> Decline invitations from VCs to drink a coffee More generally I read this as... What are my priorities? 100% focus on building an MVP with resources I have now. Someone with resources I may need later wants to chat now. Does that fit into my priorities? No. Politely decline, offering to keep them updated as my priorities start to consider the need for external resources.

hodgesrm 10y ago

I wouldn't take point 1 literally. It's more like avoid time-wasting meetings which also includes conferences, entrepreneur meetups, team-building seminars, you name it. (Unless the people you are selling to are at those meetings in which case it's probably not a waste of time.)

smustin 10y ago
Thank you! That is what I meant. More generally, don't waste your time chatting with people (unless they are your potential customers and you're trying to get to product market fit). Spend your time BUILDING!

deleted 10y ago

[deleted]

rezashirazian 10y ago

I Agree, this is not a good article. Somewhat generic solutions for improbable problems.

rpedela 10y ago

For #1, I get random emails now and then from various equity firms including VC. If your startup is listed on AngelList, Crunchbase, or other startup lists then you will likely get them. Or you are in the news for some reason like winning a competition. BTW I am not in SV and not well connected.

erikb 10y ago

Think about it for a moment. You don't have VCs chasing you to do what they expect from you (drink coffee with them) but probably other people, e.g. parents who want you to get the best grades possible, a group of friends who expect you to go with them to cinema like you do every Tuesday night, etc. And as an entrepreneur building the MVP is ONE OF YOUR LOWEST PRIORITIES! Product market fit is, and for that you need to have a MVP, but you don't need to build it. Fake it or try to get the money to have someone else build it while you find more money and other awesome people to work with. If you want to figure out everything after you create your MVP and your MVP is taking more than a few hours/days to set up, then you are just a programmer who dreams about getting rich, not an entrepreneur. Nothing wrong about it, but it's a different thing.