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I think this is great advice, but many founders think that if they don't raise funding (or take the funding offered), a competitor who will, can come in and dom

I think this is great advice, but many founders think that if they don't raise funding (or take the funding offered), a competitor who will, can come in and dominate the niche market. I also remember reading an article about SoftBank wanting to invest into Uber. If Uber turned them down, they would just give that money to Lyft or another competitor.

alexpetralia 8y ago
For non-Uber deal sizes, couldn't you always take that offer as substantial external validation and shop that around? For example, if Google says they'll acquire you or run you out of existence, couldn't you always go to VC (ie. any alternative of Google) and say: * Google wanted to acquire us because they like our team and/or the idea. You can either buy Google stock, or make an investment in us. This at least gives you some out between the "take our investment or die." But maybe this wouldn't work in practice for some reason? I'd be curious to hear. It just seems the market can't reasonably be in equilibrium when everyone is forced to take money _at the mere threat of_ producing (or investing in) a competing product. . [Edit] It's also important to keep in mind that often cash is much more fungible than the execution of an idea. I can put 1MM into your business, or a business that I think will put _you_ out of business, but if I don't trust that team or they can't execute, that 1MM may as well be toilet paper.