4 ms·

$80M seems like a lot for a developer tool with a team of 40. Why would they need so much? Besides general growth, the only thing I can see would be for cloud c

$80M seems like a lot for a developer tool with a team of 40. Why would they need so much? Besides general growth, the only thing I can see would be for cloud computation costs for AI training, but even that seems excessive. Perhaps they're going for a long runway?

gkop 5y ago
There’s probably a component of loading up for a rainy day, while the market is good (capital is available, high valuations, less dilution).
fhd2 5y ago
Do VCs invest to give companies a "long runway"? Would be news to me, though it does seem plausible. But I'd expect a business strategy of: 1) Invest at a loss to become #1 2) ? 3) Profit.
r0m4n0 5y ago
The founder of a successful startup I know used to tell his first funding story all the time. Over a game of tennis, he asked for $2mm, the VC agreed before the ball soared back over the net. He always would say, “I should have asked for $4mm!” I have a feeling that YC companies (and other well connected) get money thrown in their general direction now a days, all they have to do is ask
- ignoramous 5y ago
  > I have a feeling that YC companies (and other well connected) get money thrown in their general direction now a days, all they have to do is ask. If twitter is any indicator, it seems like the Replit co-founders are actively mentored / coached by pg. Amjad, the founder CEO, even called pg "his manager" at one point. This leads me to: As someone who went through YC and met PG while he was still actively running it, I can tell you that at least in our batch he was 100% spot on about who was going to do well. He had a tendency to spend his free time with the same individuals who ended up doing phenomenally well. It would be easy to be dismissive about this and say something about doubling down on his best investments, etc. But during our batch many of those companies had not yet become the clear cut winners that they are today, and instead only turned into them a year or so down the road. One of the best companies from our batch is Flexport, and PG had been super impressed by Ryan Petersen even before he was officially accepted into YC. It's pretty clear in hindsight that taking note of who PG was hanging out with was a very investable strategy. In fact, one of my batchmates had some money to put into other companies in our batch, and when he asked me for my opinion of who to invest in, that's exactly what I told him. I just did some quick math and would estimate that his ROI today is somewhere in the 1,000x range. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25381893 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25381893

gkop 5y ago

There’s probably a component of loading up for a rainy day, while the market is good (capital is available, high valuations, less dilution).

fhd2 5y ago

Do VCs invest to give companies a "long runway"? Would be news to me, though it does seem plausible. But I'd expect a business strategy of: 1) Invest at a loss to become #1 2) ? 3) Profit.

r0m4n0 5y ago

The founder of a successful startup I know used to tell his first funding story all the time. Over a game of tennis, he asked for $2mm, the VC agreed before the ball soared back over the net. He always would say, “I should have asked for $4mm!” I have a feeling that YC companies (and other well connected) get money thrown in their general direction now a days, all they have to do is ask

ignoramous 5y ago
> I have a feeling that YC companies (and other well connected) get money thrown in their general direction now a days, all they have to do is ask. If twitter is any indicator, it seems like the Replit co-founders are actively mentored / coached by pg. Amjad, the founder CEO, even called pg "his manager" at one point. This leads me to: As someone who went through YC and met PG while he was still actively running it, I can tell you that at least in our batch he was 100% spot on about who was going to do well. He had a tendency to spend his free time with the same individuals who ended up doing phenomenally well. It would be easy to be dismissive about this and say something about doubling down on his best investments, etc. But during our batch many of those companies had not yet become the clear cut winners that they are today, and instead only turned into them a year or so down the road. One of the best companies from our batch is Flexport, and PG had been super impressed by Ryan Petersen even before he was officially accepted into YC. It's pretty clear in hindsight that taking note of who PG was hanging out with was a very investable strategy. In fact, one of my batchmates had some money to put into other companies in our batch, and when he asked me for my opinion of who to invest in, that's exactly what I told him. I just did some quick math and would estimate that his ROI today is somewhere in the 1,000x range. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25381893 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25381893