4 ms·

You have a few options. 1. Have you been growing less since those competitors have come into the space? If you didn’t know they existed, would you even be worr

by jimhi 5y ago

You have a few options. 1. Have you been growing less since those competitors have come into the space? If you didn’t know they existed, would you even be worried? Have you actually lost any customers to them? If not I wouldn’t worry. 2. Are you making enough money to pay you and the other founders a good bonus or a dividend? It sounds like you just want some cash for all your efforts. 3. You talked about a partial exit. My previous company was acquired and spun out. You can effectively do the same thing by trying to get acquired but retain some equity and keep working for the company. 4. You could also raise money, valuations are the best they have ever been.

make_it_sure 5y ago
Thanks for your response. 1. I can't quantify exactly how many customers were lost because of them, but %-wise, our best customers are lower than it used to be, many went to competitors. Before them, we would get those "best customers". I would have been, yes. 2. Money is not a problem, we have enough cash in the bank to invest, the execution is the main problem. It's not as easy as just hire someone to build a team for you. 3. That's one of the options we're considering. Selling a % and keep working on it as a product manager, letting everything else to be handled by them. 4. Money is not the issue, we haven't reinvest a big portion of the earnings, we're a small team with a high profit margin. We can invest for ex. on building the team, but for me at least, that's something too stressful and takes my focus from the product.
- codycraven 5y ago
  > Selling a % and keep working on it as a product manager, letting everything else to be handled by them. Why did you start the company in the first place? If you wanted autonomy, consider that you'll completely lose it by selling (regardless of promises made). If it were me, I'd look to hire an executive, maybe someone late in their career who could bring in the roles to handle the work you don't care about (running the company). If you found someone in early retirement they may be willing to work for equity and only X hours per week, which would free budget to hire other roles (HR/bookkeeping, marketing, etc). It'd require finding good people that are willing to wear multiple hats, but the right executive might already have great connections.

by jimhi 5y ago

make_it_sure 5y ago

Thanks for your response. 1. I can't quantify exactly how many customers were lost because of them, but %-wise, our best customers are lower than it used to be, many went to competitors. Before them, we would get those "best customers". I would have been, yes. 2. Money is not a problem, we have enough cash in the bank to invest, the execution is the main problem. It's not as easy as just hire someone to build a team for you. 3. That's one of the options we're considering. Selling a % and keep working on it as a product manager, letting everything else to be handled by them. 4. Money is not the issue, we haven't reinvest a big portion of the earnings, we're a small team with a high profit margin. We can invest for ex. on building the team, but for me at least, that's something too stressful and takes my focus from the product.

codycraven 5y ago
> Selling a % and keep working on it as a product manager, letting everything else to be handled by them. Why did you start the company in the first place? If you wanted autonomy, consider that you'll completely lose it by selling (regardless of promises made). If it were me, I'd look to hire an executive, maybe someone late in their career who could bring in the roles to handle the work you don't care about (running the company). If you found someone in early retirement they may be willing to work for equity and only X hours per week, which would free budget to hire other roles (HR/bookkeeping, marketing, etc). It'd require finding good people that are willing to wear multiple hats, but the right executive might already have great connections.