4 ms·

Can you be more specific what this change was?

jacquesm 9y ago
I used to be a programmer, decided after burning out that I did not feel like chasing tech stacks for the next two decades and recycled my knowledge to set up a service for venture capital. I've been doing this for a decade now and it is slowly taking off. In a nutshell, me and my little band of friends help VCs to evaluate the companies they have the option to invest in. Our 'work product' is a report, which it takes about a week to put together. There were many other options to choose from this one I had a bit of a taste from by accident and I decided to see where it would lead. In the meantime I'm firing off all kinds of crazy projects whenever I have some spare time (less so every year due to the service company doubling in size year over year for the last 5 years or so). It makes good money too, and the customers I have are a lot more appreciative than any of the start-ups (b2c) customers that I had. Also there is enough time left over for a life rather than to be in the rat race all the time. All in all it suits me well, I should have probably done it earlier but apparently I had to run into the wall first before I got the message. I still code, but only when it suits me and I have fun doing it.
- jtrtoo 9y ago
  Do you have website describing this work? I poked around a bit and found your blog, but not one specifically describing your work for VCs. --A fellow techie that has done a wide variety of freelancing and consulting the past decade or so; your transition comment caught my eye...
  - jacquesm 9y ago
    Yes, but I don't like to advertise on HN. If you want you can mail me. There are two articles on the blog regarding this: https://jacquesmattheij.com/due-diligence-survival-guide https://jacquesmattheij.com/due-diligence-survival-guide https://jacquesmattheij.com/due-diligence-survival-guide-part-ii-nuts-and-bolts https://jacquesmattheij.com/due-diligence-survival-guide-par... Those are already more than 6 years old but they aged quite well.
    - maroonblazer 9y ago
      Good articles. If you're someone who is not selling a business but simply running a project your "Some Tips" can be useful to smaller scale projects that have run into trouble. Replace "business" and "company" with "project". Replace "due diligence" with "someone higher up is suddenly interested in what's actually going on": >Know your business (from a legal, technical and financial point of view) >If there is bad news get it out of the way as soon as possible, well before the due diligence process starts >Be truthful and honest >Don’t fall into the trap of ‘dressing up’ the company, it will come back to bite you during due diligence >Make sure that those that talk to the people doing due diligence know their stuff to avoid miscommunication It's surprising to me how few projects - even ones going well - can meet these criteria with a high degree of fidelity.

I used to be a programmer, decided after burning out that I did not feel like chasing tech stacks for the next two decades and recycled my knowledge to set up a service for venture capital. I've been doing this for a decade now and it is slowly taking off. In a nutshell, me and my little band of friends help VCs to evaluate the companies they have the option to invest in. Our 'work product' is a report, which it takes about a week to put together. There were many other options to choose from this one I had a bit of a taste from by accident and I decided to see where it would lead. In the meantime I'm firing off all kinds of crazy projects whenever I have some spare time (less so every year due to the service company doubling in size year over year for the last 5 years or so). It makes good money too, and the customers I have are a lot more appreciative than any of the start-ups (b2c) customers that I had. Also there is enough time left over for a life rather than to be in the rat race all the time. All in all it suits me well, I should have probably done it earlier but apparently I had to run into the wall first before I got the message. I still code, but only when it suits me and I have fun doing it.

jtrtoo 9y ago
Do you have website describing this work? I poked around a bit and found your blog, but not one specifically describing your work for VCs. --A fellow techie that has done a wide variety of freelancing and consulting the past decade or so; your transition comment caught my eye...
- jacquesm 9y ago
  Yes, but I don't like to advertise on HN. If you want you can mail me. There are two articles on the blog regarding this: https://jacquesmattheij.com/due-diligence-survival-guide https://jacquesmattheij.com/due-diligence-survival-guide https://jacquesmattheij.com/due-diligence-survival-guide-part-ii-nuts-and-bolts https://jacquesmattheij.com/due-diligence-survival-guide-par... Those are already more than 6 years old but they aged quite well.
  - maroonblazer 9y ago
    Good articles. If you're someone who is not selling a business but simply running a project your "Some Tips" can be useful to smaller scale projects that have run into trouble. Replace "business" and "company" with "project". Replace "due diligence" with "someone higher up is suddenly interested in what's actually going on": >Know your business (from a legal, technical and financial point of view) >If there is bad news get it out of the way as soon as possible, well before the due diligence process starts >Be truthful and honest >Don’t fall into the trap of ‘dressing up’ the company, it will come back to bite you during due diligence >Make sure that those that talk to the people doing due diligence know their stuff to avoid miscommunication It's surprising to me how few projects - even ones going well - can meet these criteria with a high degree of fidelity.