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Right after we did YC, a bunch of friends of mine who had decent amounts of money asked if they could invest. I turned them all down. They were upset, but we
by brandnewlow 13y ago
Right after we did YC, a bunch of friends of mine who had decent amounts of money asked if they could invest. I turned them all down. They were upset, but we didn't NEED the money and there was no real way they could help us. Reading this elicited a rush of "boy I'm glad I did that".
- andrewljohnson 13y agoThis is a case of fraud and theft. I don't get why your takeaway is that it's somehow unsafe, as a founder, to take legitimate investments from friends. Were you planning on ignoring your company bylaws, pumping money into a secret account, not papering the investments, and hiring an R&B star to serenade you? Because otherwise I think you'd be OK. A good reason not to take money is you'll probably fail, lose your friends' money, weaken friendships, and feel like a douche. I don't think there is much legal risk if you aren't totally nutso, and the board approved the investments.
- brandnewlow 13y agoRight, your second paragraph describes the reasons why I turned my friends down. This story's depictions of this guy's conversations with his 'friends' about investing and their willingness to believe him due to external signals they didn't understand ("Mark Cuban invested!") reminded me of my own experience having those conversations.