3 ms·

i dont know why people over here are giving an impression that its difficult or not that possible - i think it is 100% possible - if Angels can do it and VCs ca

i dont know why people over here are giving an impression that its difficult or not that possible - i think it is 100% possible - if Angels can do it and VCs can do it and Seed funding people can do it then why not you ... according to pg's essay http://www.paulgraham.com/startupfunding.html http://www.paulgraham.com/startupfunding.html - there are 3 phase of funding - Seed, Angel and then VC. YC model comes under pre-seed funding phase (am i right?), nevertheless what is interesting is that there is a GAP between all these phases. It would be nice if someone fills one of these gap... they might be called as micro-seed or micro-angel or micro-vc or pre-angel or pre-vc etc... but there is definitely this gap to be taken care of by some smart investor(s). Just recently I was talking about this to one of my friend and he did showed little bit of interest, so i'm sure you will also find few investors. If nothing works then just find couple of partners and get in to pre-seed funding, though you should have some talent to pick brilliant ideas/people/companies to invest in... sometime its like looking for needle in a haystack (but not impossible). Good Luck. EDIT: read pg's essay which i'm sure will motivate you : http://www.paulgraham.com/googles.html http://www.paulgraham.com/googles.html : you just need to create a business model that makes win-win game for all.

tptacek 18y ago
Something that angels, VCs, and "seed funding" ventures all have in common is accredited investor status.
- ideas101 18y ago
  do i need to be accredited investor if i'm helping my friend and he is readily giving me equity in his startup?? does model like YC requires such accredition? if yes, then i think the law is not favoring startup growth, is it? : there has to be some way out or may be rules are only for the people who are investing over million $$.
  - tptacek 18y ago
    I am not a lawyer and am probably wrong. But, the way I understand it, if you "buy" equity in your friends startup, you can at any time demand your money back, or sue your friend. There are all sorts of weird little rules about equity people ignore. For instance, if you have an LLC, there are rules about people drawing salary and simultaneously holding equity in the company. Most probably won't bite you in the ass if you're just working with friends on a company, but they may take on significance when you try to start your own private VC firm.
    - ideas101 18y ago
      thx - too tricky though - i wish there is some knowledge base available for this kind of investments.

tptacek 18y ago

Something that angels, VCs, and "seed funding" ventures all have in common is accredited investor status.

ideas101 18y ago
do i need to be accredited investor if i'm helping my friend and he is readily giving me equity in his startup?? does model like YC requires such accredition? if yes, then i think the law is not favoring startup growth, is it? : there has to be some way out or may be rules are only for the people who are investing over million $$.
- tptacek 18y ago
  I am not a lawyer and am probably wrong. But, the way I understand it, if you "buy" equity in your friends startup, you can at any time demand your money back, or sue your friend. There are all sorts of weird little rules about equity people ignore. For instance, if you have an LLC, there are rules about people drawing salary and simultaneously holding equity in the company. Most probably won't bite you in the ass if you're just working with friends on a company, but they may take on significance when you try to start your own private VC firm.
  - ideas101 18y ago
    thx - too tricky though - i wish there is some knowledge base available for this kind of investments.