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Visionary cofounder & CEO still gets investments for his new ventures.

by whatever1 3y ago

classabove 3y ago
A fool and their money...
- quickthrower2 3y ago
  A fool and someones money
- 1letterunixname 3y ago
  It's a prerequisite to be a fool to invest in, or start, a business of the startup subtype. This isn't a bad thing™ on its own if there a path to something that can also be a mildly or wildly profitable business. One issue is not every founder can become a CEO, and that's okay. And not every startup->business CEO wears the CFO hat enough of the time to keep their numbers on a sustainable trajectory. That's one of the differentiators between startup CEOs and corporate CEOs. For every wildly-ambitious founder or founder team, they need to bend an ear toward the sage advice of a conservative corporate CFO to ensure the venture stays alive and has a chance to thrive. Surrounding oneself with "toxic economic positivity" is a recipe for failure.
randycupertino 3y ago
Will he continue to spray his new potential investigators with fire extinguishers to solidify potential rounds of funding? > In late 2015, WeWork was completing an investment round led by Beijing-based Hony Capital Ltd. that pushed its valuation to $16 billion. Mr. Neumann invited its CEO, John Zhao, to a party at 110 Wall Street, where WeWork was about to open its first WeLive dormlike apartment building. Toward the end of the night, Mr. Neumann led others to the roof of the 27-story building. There, guests passed around tequila shots. Mr. Neumann picked up a fire extinguisher and set it off, spraying Mr. Zhao and others with white foam. > The deal went through. Mr. Zhao joined WeWork’s board in July 2016. https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-money-men-who-enabled-adam-neumann-and-the-wework-debacle-11576299616 https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-money-men-who-enabled-adam-...
- JumpCrisscross 3y ago
  To be completely honest, Neumann reminds me of Ian Schrager. He would run a fantastic club. Somehow, we’re in a world where clubs contain the C suite and are grafted on multi-billion dollar companies.
paxys 3y ago
It's different, because this time he is only getting funding by putting up his hundreds of millions of dollars worth of real estate (bought using his WeWork money) as collateral.
- hn_throwaway_99 3y ago
  Do you have a source for that? Not a challenge, I'm genuinely really interested in learning more as that's the first I've heard that. I always wondered what would have caused a16z to put so much money into Flow, but them having actual collateral against their investment would make more sense. But as far as I know a16z's investment was a pure equity stake so I don't know how collateral would work in that situation.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
sharkweek 3y ago
I don’t think there’s a founder who has at one point been running a company over $1BN in value who would have trouble finding venture capital for their next thing. I sincerely believe if SBF or Holmes were raising money for a new startup today, they’d have at least a few notable names lined up to throw money their way. There’s a famous NFL quote from the general manager of the Arizona Cardinals that goes, “I've said this before - If Hannibal Lecter ran a 4.3 (40-yard dash) we'd probably diagnose it as an eating disorder.” It’d be “worth a shot” as it were.

Visionary cofounder & CEO still gets investments for his new ventures.

classabove 3y ago

A fool and their money...

quickthrower2 3y ago
A fool and someones money
1letterunixname 3y ago
It's a prerequisite to be a fool to invest in, or start, a business of the startup subtype. This isn't a bad thing™ on its own if there a path to something that can also be a mildly or wildly profitable business. One issue is not every founder can become a CEO, and that's okay. And not every startup->business CEO wears the CFO hat enough of the time to keep their numbers on a sustainable trajectory. That's one of the differentiators between startup CEOs and corporate CEOs. For every wildly-ambitious founder or founder team, they need to bend an ear toward the sage advice of a conservative corporate CFO to ensure the venture stays alive and has a chance to thrive. Surrounding oneself with "toxic economic positivity" is a recipe for failure.

randycupertino 3y ago

Will he continue to spray his new potential investigators with fire extinguishers to solidify potential rounds of funding? > In late 2015, WeWork was completing an investment round led by Beijing-based Hony Capital Ltd. that pushed its valuation to $16 billion. Mr. Neumann invited its CEO, John Zhao, to a party at 110 Wall Street, where WeWork was about to open its first WeLive dormlike apartment building. Toward the end of the night, Mr. Neumann led others to the roof of the 27-story building. There, guests passed around tequila shots. Mr. Neumann picked up a fire extinguisher and set it off, spraying Mr. Zhao and others with white foam. > The deal went through. Mr. Zhao joined WeWork’s board in July 2016. https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-money-men-who-enabled-adam-neumann-and-the-wework-debacle-11576299616 https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-money-men-who-enabled-adam-...

JumpCrisscross 3y ago
To be completely honest, Neumann reminds me of Ian Schrager. He would run a fantastic club. Somehow, we’re in a world where clubs contain the C suite and are grafted on multi-billion dollar companies.

paxys 3y ago

It's different, because this time he is only getting funding by putting up his hundreds of millions of dollars worth of real estate (bought using his WeWork money) as collateral.

hn_throwaway_99 3y ago
Do you have a source for that? Not a challenge, I'm genuinely really interested in learning more as that's the first I've heard that. I always wondered what would have caused a16z to put so much money into Flow, but them having actual collateral against their investment would make more sense. But as far as I know a16z's investment was a pure equity stake so I don't know how collateral would work in that situation.

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

sharkweek 3y ago

I don’t think there’s a founder who has at one point been running a company over $1BN in value who would have trouble finding venture capital for their next thing. I sincerely believe if SBF or Holmes were raising money for a new startup today, they’d have at least a few notable names lined up to throw money their way. There’s a famous NFL quote from the general manager of the Arizona Cardinals that goes, “I've said this before - If Hannibal Lecter ran a 4.3 (40-yard dash) we'd probably diagnose it as an eating disorder.” It’d be “worth a shot” as it were.