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Hey folks - new blog post out this morning - happy to answer any questions

anandkulkarni 10y ago
I suspect this is often used as shorthand as a measurement of progress because it's announced publicly and has some (imperfect) correlation to traction across all companies who receive it. If you were to define a new standard milestone for "success", what would it be? Revenue, for B2B companies, and active user growth rate for B2C?
- xyzzy4 10y ago
  I'm not an expert, but I'd probably say a mixture of revenue, gross profit, EBITDA, and growth expectations.
codyzazulak1 10y ago
Hi Michael! How do you (& ycomb) feel about startups that require huge amounts of money to function? Vroom, OpenDoor, etc?
- aorloff 10y ago
  Is OpenDoor a startup, or a REIT ?
  - dyim 10y ago
    their operational side looks/walks/quacks like a startup, so i think something important gets lost in translation if you look at the balance sheets and call OpenDoor a REIT
  - evancharles 10y ago
    We're a startup that builds software to simplify real estate, and we use capital markets to power that experience. The ability to buy the home directly allows us to put the homeowner in control of their timeline. I like pg's definition of startup here http://www.paulgraham.com/growth.html http://www.paulgraham.com/growth.html Internally, we talk about fundraises as "moments" but not milestones. Fundraising takes work and is critical to growing our business, so we recognize that effort but don't celebrate rounds as successes for the business or for our customers.
- mwseibel 10y ago
  Totally fine to need a lot of money. Actually there are a lot of fintech/alternative lending companies where debt fundraising is a big milestone because debt/capital is core to the product. This is relatively rare though.
jstandard 10y ago
I agree heartily with the general thesis, that fundraising rounds shouldn't be put on the pedestal they are. About your comments on the tech press, what do you realistically think they can talk about if not funding rounds? Most forms of impact for early stage companies are typically communicated by traction numbers which you want to keep private from your competitors.

I suspect this is often used as shorthand as a measurement of progress because it's announced publicly and has some (imperfect) correlation to traction across all companies who receive it. If you were to define a new standard milestone for "success", what would it be? Revenue, for B2B companies, and active user growth rate for B2C?

xyzzy4 10y ago
I'm not an expert, but I'd probably say a mixture of revenue, gross profit, EBITDA, and growth expectations.

codyzazulak1 10y ago

Hi Michael! How do you (& ycomb) feel about startups that require huge amounts of money to function? Vroom, OpenDoor, etc?

aorloff 10y ago
Is OpenDoor a startup, or a REIT ?
- dyim 10y ago
  their operational side looks/walks/quacks like a startup, so i think something important gets lost in translation if you look at the balance sheets and call OpenDoor a REIT
- evancharles 10y ago
  We're a startup that builds software to simplify real estate, and we use capital markets to power that experience. The ability to buy the home directly allows us to put the homeowner in control of their timeline. I like pg's definition of startup here http://www.paulgraham.com/growth.html http://www.paulgraham.com/growth.html Internally, we talk about fundraises as "moments" but not milestones. Fundraising takes work and is critical to growing our business, so we recognize that effort but don't celebrate rounds as successes for the business or for our customers.
mwseibel 10y ago
Totally fine to need a lot of money. Actually there are a lot of fintech/alternative lending companies where debt fundraising is a big milestone because debt/capital is core to the product. This is relatively rare though.

jstandard 10y ago

I agree heartily with the general thesis, that fundraising rounds shouldn't be put on the pedestal they are. About your comments on the tech press, what do you realistically think they can talk about if not funding rounds? Most forms of impact for early stage companies are typically communicated by traction numbers which you want to keep private from your competitors.