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Ok, you don’t need a business plan. But no balance sheet? You can’t file your taxes without a balance sheet. How can you run anything larger than a mom-and-po

Ok, you don’t need a business plan. But no balance sheet? You can’t file your taxes without a balance sheet. How can you run anything larger than a mom-and-pop business without ever seeing a balance sheet?

vertis 5y ago
He's not saying you don't need a balance sheet. He's saying looking at one for an early stage startup as an outsider doesn't help him make a decision. I suspect if you asked him he would tell you that particularly as the startup grows the startup should be across the financials, just that it doesn't help an outsider with no context as to why you're in the red.
onion2k 5y ago
pg saying he doesn't need to see your balance sheet isn't the same as saying no one needs to see your balance sheet.
- trulyme 5y ago
  But this is not what he said. If he said that, it would have been reasonable. Instead he claims to have never read a balance sheet, which doesn't seem likely, and even if it was true, it would not be very smart. Why avoid them until you read them and formed your own opinion? Saying "I don't read those documents anymore" would have made sense too.
  - biorach 5y ago
    > Instead he claims to have never read a balance sheet, It's pretty clear from the context that he means that he has never read the balance sheet of a company applying for VC funding as the information there is irrelevant at that time. It's highly unlikely, as the founder of several businesses, and long term investor in others, that he could have never read any balance sheet ever.
    - trulyme 5y ago
      This is not how I understand it. From the twitter thread: >> Have you ever written one though? > PG: I'm not sure. I wrote something for Viaweb that I called a business plan, but never having seen one, I didn't and still don't know if it contains what business plans are supposed to contain. It doesn't matter though. The title is clickbait at best. > It's highly unlikely, as the founder of several businesses, and long term investor in others, that he could have never read any balance sheet ever. Glad we agree.

vertis 5y ago

He's not saying you don't need a balance sheet. He's saying looking at one for an early stage startup as an outsider doesn't help him make a decision. I suspect if you asked him he would tell you that particularly as the startup grows the startup should be across the financials, just that it doesn't help an outsider with no context as to why you're in the red.

onion2k 5y ago

pg saying he doesn't need to see your balance sheet isn't the same as saying no one needs to see your balance sheet.

trulyme 5y ago
But this is not what he said. If he said that, it would have been reasonable. Instead he claims to have never read a balance sheet, which doesn't seem likely, and even if it was true, it would not be very smart. Why avoid them until you read them and formed your own opinion? Saying "I don't read those documents anymore" would have made sense too.
- biorach 5y ago
  > Instead he claims to have never read a balance sheet, It's pretty clear from the context that he means that he has never read the balance sheet of a company applying for VC funding as the information there is irrelevant at that time. It's highly unlikely, as the founder of several businesses, and long term investor in others, that he could have never read any balance sheet ever.
  - trulyme 5y ago
    This is not how I understand it. From the twitter thread: >> Have you ever written one though? > PG: I'm not sure. I wrote something for Viaweb that I called a business plan, but never having seen one, I didn't and still don't know if it contains what business plans are supposed to contain. It doesn't matter though. The title is clickbait at best. > It's highly unlikely, as the founder of several businesses, and long term investor in others, that he could have never read any balance sheet ever. Glad we agree.