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I'm sorry but I absolutely hate your response because it seems to come from such a high and privileged position. In my opinion, 150K is quite bit of money, espe

by mikeg8 13y ago

I'm sorry but I absolutely hate your response because it seems to come from such a high and privileged position. In my opinion, 150K is quite bit of money, especially if the team has technical founders or can find a "mediocre" developer. Some people have financial obligation or living situation where they could save like mad and it would still take them years to accumulate 150k. Barely useful? This is that SV bullshit mentality. There are thousands of great entrepreneurs all over the world who could turn 150k into a profitable little company. Might not make millions in the first few years (or ever) but if they love it and people love their product/service, that is very useful. Surviving off very little is an admirable characteristic, you don't need millions to build something meaningful and if that's the way you think, I would never work with or invest in you.

kika 13y ago
> There are thousands of great entrepreneurs all over the world who could turn 150k into a profitable little company. Alas, VCs are not after profitable little companies. They just plainly would not allow you to become a little company, profitable or not.
- jber 13y ago
  Not in our case, we love startups reaching profitability by just raising a seed round. It's most of the time the best way to confirm that the business model is right. It's also easier to raise a big round after that, invest a lot and grow.
  - kika 13y ago
    Okay, how do you suppose to exit then? I take $150K from you, create a small SaaS service a la @patio11 and then start slowly crank up customer base, showing stable 10-25% y/y growth. I see no exit for your 15%
    - jber 13y ago
      We sold Sparrow to Google with this model and the founders are now millionnaires. but this is not what I'm saying. You're reaching profitability first and you're building a big company just after. Market Size is the most important but it's not because your market size is big that you have to take risk and hit the wall without enough cash to survive. Profitability/Breakeven is giving you the time to raise as much money you need/want

by mikeg8 13y ago

kika 13y ago

> There are thousands of great entrepreneurs all over the world who could turn 150k into a profitable little company. Alas, VCs are not after profitable little companies. They just plainly would not allow you to become a little company, profitable or not.

jber 13y ago
Not in our case, we love startups reaching profitability by just raising a seed round. It's most of the time the best way to confirm that the business model is right. It's also easier to raise a big round after that, invest a lot and grow.
- kika 13y ago
  Okay, how do you suppose to exit then? I take $150K from you, create a small SaaS service a la @patio11 and then start slowly crank up customer base, showing stable 10-25% y/y growth. I see no exit for your 15%
  - jber 13y ago
    We sold Sparrow to Google with this model and the founders are now millionnaires. but this is not what I'm saying. You're reaching profitability first and you're building a big company just after. Market Size is the most important but it's not because your market size is big that you have to take risk and hit the wall without enough cash to survive. Profitability/Breakeven is giving you the time to raise as much money you need/want