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Turning a $1000 loan into a $66 million exit – one Shark’s story

15 points by erin_bury 15y ago

Shenglong 15y ago
That's one of the worst valuation strategies I've ever heard of; reading that part actually made me angry.
- chopsueyar 15y ago
  Keep in mind what year it was.
  - jbm 15y ago
    +1. For a little understanding of the media "context" around that time: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ubsd-tWYmZw http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ubsd-tWYmZw Real estate has always been somewhat manipulative and real estate agents are some of the most difficult people I have ever worked with.
artmageddon 15y ago
"Salespeople produce income, everyone else cost money. I was very reluctant to hire anyone that cost money, she says. I was always happy to spend money that would produce more money for the firm." As a programmer, I feel so awesome whenever a real estate agent or equity trader or department director or whoever makes a comment like this.</sarcasm> Comments like this make me want to scream and let them know that we all keep things running smoothly. She's lucky she didn't have any turnover; higher-ups with these kinds of attitudes don't keep worthwhile people for long. Also, pedantic journalism fail: 9/11 happened on a Tuesday, not a Monday.
- cheez 15y ago
  If you have read Steve Blank's(?) book regarding customer development, he has a portion on dividing up equity. It may piss you off even more to hear that he says (roughly): give the technical guy as little as possible.
  - gte910h 15y ago
    He's not writing it for technical people.
    - cheez 15y ago
      And there you go. The only people who value their own profession are the techies. That will not go very far!
r00fus 15y ago
So let me get this straight, she kept hiring people (which she admits wasn't the best business plan) and gets lucky because real-estate in late 90s/early00's was in a boom (mostly due to repeal of regulations). She may be a nice/effective person, but she admits she had no vision, no plan other than growth, and exited early after getting lucky. How is this relevant to anyone at HN?

15 points by erin_bury 15y ago

Shenglong 15y ago

That's one of the worst valuation strategies I've ever heard of; reading that part actually made me angry.

chopsueyar 15y ago
Keep in mind what year it was.
- jbm 15y ago
  +1. For a little understanding of the media "context" around that time: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ubsd-tWYmZw http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ubsd-tWYmZw Real estate has always been somewhat manipulative and real estate agents are some of the most difficult people I have ever worked with.

artmageddon 15y ago

"Salespeople produce income, everyone else cost money. I was very reluctant to hire anyone that cost money, she says. I was always happy to spend money that would produce more money for the firm." As a programmer, I feel so awesome whenever a real estate agent or equity trader or department director or whoever makes a comment like this.</sarcasm> Comments like this make me want to scream and let them know that we all keep things running smoothly. She's lucky she didn't have any turnover; higher-ups with these kinds of attitudes don't keep worthwhile people for long. Also, pedantic journalism fail: 9/11 happened on a Tuesday, not a Monday.

cheez 15y ago
If you have read Steve Blank's(?) book regarding customer development, he has a portion on dividing up equity. It may piss you off even more to hear that he says (roughly): give the technical guy as little as possible.
- gte910h 15y ago
  He's not writing it for technical people.
  - cheez 15y ago
    And there you go. The only people who value their own profession are the techies. That will not go very far!

r00fus 15y ago

So let me get this straight, she kept hiring people (which she admits wasn't the best business plan) and gets lucky because real-estate in late 90s/early00's was in a boom (mostly due to repeal of regulations). She may be a nice/effective person, but she admits she had no vision, no plan other than growth, and exited early after getting lucky. How is this relevant to anyone at HN?