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Congratulations to them! It's impressive, and the product seems really interesting. But having 9 VC invested in your Company is really not an idea situation. (

by 2pasc 14y ago

Congratulations to them! It's impressive, and the product seems really interesting. But having 9 VC invested in your Company is really not an idea situation. (cf: http://blog.eladgil.com/2012/04/vc-signaling-coming-home-to-roost.html http://blog.eladgil.com/2012/04/vc-signaling-coming-home-to-...) I am wondering why they did not want to/could not raise money from one VC only who would have lead the round (with say $3M) with super angels and individuals completing the round. That would have made their Company so much more manageable at the board level...

alexandros 14y ago
Having 1 VC invest is a problem as the company is dependent on them to invest in the next round or face signalling problems. The VC may use that to force worse terms. Having 9 VCs is less of a problem. Or at least if all 9 VCs that have followed your company since seed round refuse to invest in the next round, you probably have more serious problems to worry about than the signalling issues.
- 2pasc 14y ago
  Well....I see what you are saying. But if none of the 9VC want to follow up... the Company is toast for sure ;-)
  - priley 14y ago
    I can certainly see it both ways. Thanks for the link and discussion guys. It's valuable for those just starting to make these kinds of decisions.
    - 2pasc 14y ago
      You are welcome. Really looking forward to test the product though. Do you intend to take on Intelius and Companies like that? Is that your goal?
ianedwards 14y ago
The other negative signal is all their talk of doing "massive" things. Did fb ever talk this way? Not to my knowledge ... they just DID things. Lot's of hype / cockiness on this one.
- 2pasc 14y ago
  Totally agree. Everybody forgets that neither Facebook, nor Google, eBay, LinkedIn, Youtube, were saying they were doing massive things. And yet...
  - priley 14y ago
    Why do you guys think that? I received this email in 2004 from TheFacebook.com founders encouraging me to join their team. " - Thefacebook.com is one of the hottest new websites. - Our numbers are some of the best on the Internet: 1.5-2 billion page views per month, 2.3 million registered users, and 60%+ of the user base comes back every day " If you are starting your own company, you should be 120% sure you are building something huge that people want. It's also much harder now to attract engineers then it was back then, which is essentially the main reason you even talk about a round.
    - 2pasc 14y ago
      Thanks for participating in the discussion. I completely understand what you are talking about regarding attracting engineers. It's so crazy currently in Silicon Valley! I am not saying that you should not be ambitious. It's just that I see so many people boasting huge vision with no traction at all. As you can see in the email above, TheFacebook was indeed a hot website with amazing traction. Their ambition (social graph, platform, etc...) came later, and so many times entrepreneurs think that they need to have the big vision first when their MVP is not used at all. In the case of Ark, I believe that you have a very interesting product, and that being where you are right now is a very interesting position. I wish you all the success in the world to bring that to fruition and be able to get the traction you need to go to the next level. Good luck! I would love to have coffee with you and hear more about it if you are in the city!
    - 14y ago

by 2pasc 14y ago

alexandros 14y ago

Having 1 VC invest is a problem as the company is dependent on them to invest in the next round or face signalling problems. The VC may use that to force worse terms. Having 9 VCs is less of a problem. Or at least if all 9 VCs that have followed your company since seed round refuse to invest in the next round, you probably have more serious problems to worry about than the signalling issues.

2pasc 14y ago
Well....I see what you are saying. But if none of the 9VC want to follow up... the Company is toast for sure ;-)
- priley 14y ago
  I can certainly see it both ways. Thanks for the link and discussion guys. It's valuable for those just starting to make these kinds of decisions.
  - 2pasc 14y ago
    You are welcome. Really looking forward to test the product though. Do you intend to take on Intelius and Companies like that? Is that your goal?

ianedwards 14y ago

The other negative signal is all their talk of doing "massive" things. Did fb ever talk this way? Not to my knowledge ... they just DID things. Lot's of hype / cockiness on this one.

2pasc 14y ago
Totally agree. Everybody forgets that neither Facebook, nor Google, eBay, LinkedIn, Youtube, were saying they were doing massive things. And yet...
- priley 14y ago
  Why do you guys think that? I received this email in 2004 from TheFacebook.com founders encouraging me to join their team. " - Thefacebook.com is one of the hottest new websites. - Our numbers are some of the best on the Internet: 1.5-2 billion page views per month, 2.3 million registered users, and 60%+ of the user base comes back every day " If you are starting your own company, you should be 120% sure you are building something huge that people want. It's also much harder now to attract engineers then it was back then, which is essentially the main reason you even talk about a round.
  - 2pasc 14y ago
    Thanks for participating in the discussion. I completely understand what you are talking about regarding attracting engineers. It's so crazy currently in Silicon Valley! I am not saying that you should not be ambitious. It's just that I see so many people boasting huge vision with no traction at all. As you can see in the email above, TheFacebook was indeed a hot website with amazing traction. Their ambition (social graph, platform, etc...) came later, and so many times entrepreneurs think that they need to have the big vision first when their MVP is not used at all. In the case of Ark, I believe that you have a very interesting product, and that being where you are right now is a very interesting position. I wish you all the success in the world to bring that to fruition and be able to get the traction you need to go to the next level. Good luck! I would love to have coffee with you and hear more about it if you are in the city!
  - 14y ago