4 ms·

I gotta be honest, that was depressing to read. Why would he want to raise $24mm when he could just build a profitable sales machine from day one, with a Scala

I gotta be honest, that was depressing to read. Why would he want to raise $24mm when he could just build a profitable sales machine from day one, with a Scalable and repeatable sales process? I think he should read the book _The Lean Startup_ by Eric Ries.

dangrossman 15y ago
That book hasn't been released yet... I've had it preordered for 10 months.
robfitz 15y ago
I think you are depressed by what you think you read, not what you actually read. He explains their motivations quite thoroughly (talent is currently available, so for now, cash is their major bottleneck, not scouting). They've also been in business for 30 years (founded 1981). Somehow I don't think they are ignorant of how to run a business. There isn't a moral "right" answer for VC. Taking it isn't a weakness, and funding isn't a sign of giving up. It's a business tool like any other, and it's ridiculous to be sitting spectator to a very healthy business and condemning their choices.
- nl 15y ago
  They've also been in business for 30 years (founded 1981) SEOMoz has been in business since 1981? Wow.. what did they optimize for back then - library catalogs?
  - _delirium 15y ago
    It's a bit of a stretch. Their website (http://www.seomoz.org/about http://www.seomoz.org/about) lists a co-founder's traditional marketing company, founded in 1981, as an SEOmoz precursor. But Rand Fishkin, who largely drove the SEO direction that's become successful, didn't join until 1999, and SEOmoz itself was founded in 2004. So it'd make more sense imo to say it's been in business for around 10 years, though one of the co-founders had previously had 20 years' experience running a different (non-SEO) marketing company.
- zackattack 15y ago
  It's ridiculous to commend choices that lead to bad results.

4 ms·

I gotta be honest, that was depressing to read. Why would he want to raise $24mm when he could just build a profitable sales machine from day one, with a Scala

by zackattack 15y ago

dangrossman 15y ago
That book hasn't been released yet... I've had it preordered for 10 months.
robfitz 15y ago
I think you are depressed by what you think you read, not what you actually read. He explains their motivations quite thoroughly (talent is currently available, so for now, cash is their major bottleneck, not scouting). They've also been in business for 30 years (founded 1981). Somehow I don't think they are ignorant of how to run a business. There isn't a moral "right" answer for VC. Taking it isn't a weakness, and funding isn't a sign of giving up. It's a business tool like any other, and it's ridiculous to be sitting spectator to a very healthy business and condemning their choices.
- nl 15y ago
  They've also been in business for 30 years (founded 1981) SEOMoz has been in business since 1981? Wow.. what did they optimize for back then - library catalogs?
  - _delirium 15y ago
    It's a bit of a stretch. Their website (http://www.seomoz.org/about http://www.seomoz.org/about) lists a co-founder's traditional marketing company, founded in 1981, as an SEOmoz precursor. But Rand Fishkin, who largely drove the SEO direction that's become successful, didn't join until 1999, and SEOmoz itself was founded in 2004. So it'd make more sense imo to say it's been in business for around 10 years, though one of the co-founders had previously had 20 years' experience running a different (non-SEO) marketing company.
- zackattack 15y ago
  It's ridiculous to commend choices that lead to bad results.