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Ben is a venture capitalist.. flipping is what he does for a living. Edit: Down-votes or not, please keep in mind that the business model of a venture capitali
by blantonl 15y ago
Ben is a venture capitalist.. flipping is what he does for a living.
Edit: Down-votes or not, please keep in mind that the business model of a venture capitalist is to make an investment and sell it at a future time for a profit. There seems to be a negative connotation around the term "flip", but the reality is that there is significant risk to being a "flipper." Horowitz took an enormous risk and he was rewarded for his "flip".
- joshu 15y agoThere were a lot of people in the deal, so it is not like he sold the company himself. Further, flip is extremely negative. VCs who do this for a living don't get very far. I remember being lectured repeatedly about this. "are you building a company or a burger?" Your use of terminology gives me the impression you have gathered your understanding from blog posts. Standard disclaimer: I am both an investor in a16z and invested in them. Along with a number of other firms on both sides.
- blantonl 15y agoFlip is not "extremely negative." It is a reality in many business transactions. As I wrote in my parent post the term "flip" carries a negative connotation, but the end result is that someone took on a greater risk than the other guy to buy into a business with the sole purpose to resell their share at a greater value. Anyway you look at it, that is a flip. And I'm cool with that. Good for Ben.
- joshu 15y agoFlip implies selling quickly without adding much value. Skypr has publically been on an IPO path for a while, and that is no flip.