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If you want an extreme example of this; go look at the Sacramento startup Sircles. 7+ year old "startup" that has sub $100k revenue after several years but 9 mi
by SacToHacker 1y ago
If you want an extreme example of this; go look at the Sacramento startup Sircles. 7+ year old "startup" that has sub $100k revenue after several years but 9 million in debt. The founder has an account there under u/Sirclesapp where he goes off on toxic and insane tirades to anyone who dares say anything but utmost praise at his app. Apparently he stalks their reddit accounts and sends threatening letters to their personal home addresses from his lawyer for "defamation". That I understand he sent one to some ex employees and one to some woman who I think is a paralegal and is now suing them in civil court.
He partnered with some radio program called radradio where the host had a lot of personal issues and the show ultimately got axed. The radio host was known for having issues with alcohol, but they kept partnering with him because he kept shilling their WeFunder. They've raised over $6m in SAFEs but considering they are $9m in debt, haven't broken $100k lifetime revenue after 7 years, and seem to have over a million a year burn rate, it's doubtful that the shares from those SAFEs (if ever executed) would ever be in the money.
- samtho 1y agoI’m from Sacramento and I know of people who worked at Sircles. It’s comically mismanaged and run by a comic book villian.
- karlgkk 1y agoWow, it seems like the whole purpose of the product is grievance based against yelp. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a fan of yelp, but I get the vibe that maybe this person would be even more extractive if given the opportunity
- eru 1y ago> [...] go look at the Sacramento startup Sircles. 7+ year old "startup" that has sub $100k revenue after several years but 9 million in debt. Going on a tangent: Depending on your industry, taking a while to see any revenue is common. Eg look into biotech or the people trying to make atomic fusion a reality. Debt is just as valid a way to finance your company as equity is. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modigliani%E2%80%93Miller_theorem https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modigliani%E2%80%93Miller_theo... for the theory.
- hn_throwaway_99 1y ago> Depending on your industry, taking a while to see any revenue is common. That is true. But Sircles, which appears to be just another social recommendation app, is not in one of those industries.
- eru 1y agoOh, even without looking into it, I would assume that Sircles is probably pretty dodgy. I just meant that SacToHacker's original points against it aren't necessarily bad. But can be damning in the context of their industry, yes!
- vibrio 1y agoTrue. and a screwdriver is as just a valid tool as a hammer. Though their use isn’t always interchangeable .
- ejoso 1y agoThis is cool. Love little tangential info bombs like this. Thanks.
- koolala 1y agoCool but Sircles isn't a biotech company. It's a social network. They arn't "trying to make atomic fusion a reality" either.