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> So she paid a $7,500 deposit and was all set to join Newchip when a founder friend told her to “never pay for introductions.” Hopefully everyone knows this h
by ultrasaurus 2y ago
> So she paid a $7,500 deposit and was all set to join Newchip when a founder friend told her to “never pay for introductions.”
Hopefully everyone knows this here, but if you paid for an introduction it's a negative signal: just cold email.
That being said, I'll make intros for only $6,500 and no warrants.
- pavel_lishin 2y agoDon't listen to this charlatan. For only $6,499 I'll introduce you to a chap who won't charge you a cent over $6,498 for an introduction.
- hedora 2y agoI charge as much as the second lowest bidder. Second lowest because sustainable value extraction is important to me.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- oxcabe 2y agoWho pays for a full introduction nowadays, though? Hear me out - we are introducing a PaaS (Pitch as a Service) platform so that founders only pay for what VC is interested in listening. It's just $0.003/word, allowing you to optimize your introduction. It's also lazily evaluated: if someone gets bored with it, you get cut off from your introduction and just pay for what you said up to that point. We are offering discounts for the words "AI", "LLM", and "web3". Those are half the price.
- atherton33 2y agoOf note from the article: she complained and was refunded the money after being stood up for the meeting, but they never cancelled the contract she paid to sign that gave them the right to buy her out of her own company for pennies, so once it passed to bankruptcy the creditors still took her company.
- darkerside 2y agoWouldn't a contract like this be considered unenforceable? There were no services rendered, no exchange of value
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- unyttigfjelltol 2y agoThe issue is they dropped a bet-the-company litigation on 1,000 startups that are not positioned to do anything but close operations.
- darth_avocado 2y agoThe contract SHOULD be unenforceable, however, not sure if bankruptcy court will actually resolve that matter. Maybe it would be a separate lawsuit?
- SpicyLemonZest 2y agoIIUC, the problem is that the founders have no good way to force a resolution at all until whoever buys the warrants attempts to exercise them.
- langsoul-com 2y agoFounder has no money to pay for lawyers. No doubt those fees would bankrupt the company completely.
- deaddodo 2y agoIt's important to note that legal fees can be deferred in California, for this exact reason. In addition, if they have a strong case and a law firm believes they could gain more than their fees, they'll often still take the case. In other words: Do not let the idea of vague "legal fees" scare you off from pursuing a genuine grievance. At least consult with a few law firms.
- morgante 2y agoI don't really understand how these predatory businesses continue to exist. I understand some entrepreneurs are very out of the loop / far from the VC ecosystem, but even just Googling about it you will find lots of clear advice to never pay for introductions or accelerators.
- OJFord 2y agoIt's just falling for a scam like any other really isn't it? It happens, the promises you want to believe, etc. We can sit here and say we don't understand how people fall for Nigerian princes, attorneys for the estate of long lost cousins, and all that sort of thing, but clearly it works on some people vulnerable and wishful enough to believe it.