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Many first-time entrepreneurs have raised more than $100M. They started with small amounts and showed great results at each stage.

by tlb 13y ago

phmagic 13y ago
I think that doesn't apply to very long time horizon projects. You might not have anything to show investors as progress until 10 years down the road. You either need enough money upfront or personal money to put in along the way.
- the_watcher 13y ago
  This is something that YC can help with, though. They have shown a willingness to be much less risk averse than the average VC, and are at least making an effort to seek out long shots that probably would have trouble raising funds for a 10 year horizon project (such as SpaceX) on their own. YC can help a non-Elon Musk get started in the right direction for some of these projects, put in some money (both through YC VC and as angels), and help introduce these teams to the right partners at the right VC's for raising the right funds at the right time. This doesn't make it a sure thing that this will lead to more Tesla/SpaceX successes, but it can only increase the odds. Bravo.
staunch 13y ago
Tesla would not exist if Elon Musk hadn't bet his personal fortune. He showed terrible results at first so all his investors gave up on him. Your average YC founder would not have been in a position to pony up $40M to do the Series E himself.
- toomuchtodo 13y ago
  People usually don't realize that Tesla was days from insolvency back in 2008: http://www.autotrends.org/2008/11/17/avoiding-insolvency-tesla-motors-borrows-40-million/ http://www.autotrends.org/2008/11/17/avoiding-insolvency-tes... Elon is an all-in kind of guy, but has his hands full. More Elons please.
  - crassus 13y ago
    What are all the filthy rich people in Silicon Valley not named "Musk" doing with their money?
dsugarman 13y ago
I 100% agree when it comes to software, but if we are talking about long term ground breaking technology.. how can you start a spaceship company without a $100M initial investment? what results can you show at an early stage? it's an honest question and I think about this all the time. If you can solve the funding issue, I would bet a lot more people will choose the more ambitious projects. What can a spaceship company accomplish with $100k?
- pg 13y ago
  By not starting with spaceships, but instead with something that can evolve into spaceships. Here's the first product of Boeing, which built the bottom stage of the Saturn V: http://www.boeing.com/boeing/history/boeing/bw.page http://www.boeing.com/boeing/history/boeing/bw.page
  - carpdiem 13y ago
    I feel like this is not a good comparison. Boeing took fifty years to go from the company that built that plane, to the company that helped build the Saturn V. I'm all for long time horizons, but I don't think that most startup founders envision spending fifty years on a company in order to finally, at the end of that, get to do what they wanted to do in the first place.
    - pw 13y ago
      I don't know about most startup founders, but I think YC might be okay with a fifty-year time horizon given that Sam said that they invest with an "infinite time horizon" and that needing to raise a billion dollars over the course of a company's lifetime is a "plus".
    - netcan 13y ago
      Boeing didn't take a straight path from A to B so the timescale is not all that relevant. It's just an example of how things that seem impossible from a cold start seem more possible when you think in steps. It's not step 1 - raise $250m , step 2 - build spaceship. Elon Musk seems like the counterexample because he started with so much capital and credibility. But he was very obviously thinking steps from the start. Each one risky. Build engine. Build high end car. Buildlower end cars. Maybe then build parts for other manufacturers. Most big goals are reached in steps. The more difficult and risky the goal the more steps there are and the bigger and riskier they are likely to be but they are still steps. If your goal is building spaceships you could start by doing something useful with satellites as a step 1. This could be a kickstart-able sized undertaking. https://www.google.ie/search?q=site:https://www.kickstarter.com/+satellite https://www.google.ie/search?q=site:https://www.kickstarter.... Obviously if you are trying to push the boundaries of what a cold start startup can possibly achieve, you are going to find yourself on the difficult-impossible border region but that's the point, isn't it?

Many first-time entrepreneurs have raised more than $100M. They started with small amounts and showed great results at each stage.

by tlb 13y ago

Many first-time entrepreneurs have raised more than $100M. They started with small amounts and showed great results at each stage.

phmagic 13y ago

I think that doesn't apply to very long time horizon projects. You might not have anything to show investors as progress until 10 years down the road. You either need enough money upfront or personal money to put in along the way.

the_watcher 13y ago
This is something that YC can help with, though. They have shown a willingness to be much less risk averse than the average VC, and are at least making an effort to seek out long shots that probably would have trouble raising funds for a 10 year horizon project (such as SpaceX) on their own. YC can help a non-Elon Musk get started in the right direction for some of these projects, put in some money (both through YC VC and as angels), and help introduce these teams to the right partners at the right VC's for raising the right funds at the right time. This doesn't make it a sure thing that this will lead to more Tesla/SpaceX successes, but it can only increase the odds. Bravo.

staunch 13y ago

Tesla would not exist if Elon Musk hadn't bet his personal fortune. He showed terrible results at first so all his investors gave up on him. Your average YC founder would not have been in a position to pony up $40M to do the Series E himself.

toomuchtodo 13y ago
People usually don't realize that Tesla was days from insolvency back in 2008: http://www.autotrends.org/2008/11/17/avoiding-insolvency-tesla-motors-borrows-40-million/ http://www.autotrends.org/2008/11/17/avoiding-insolvency-tes... Elon is an all-in kind of guy, but has his hands full. More Elons please.
- crassus 13y ago
  What are all the filthy rich people in Silicon Valley not named "Musk" doing with their money?

dsugarman 13y ago

I 100% agree when it comes to software, but if we are talking about long term ground breaking technology.. how can you start a spaceship company without a $100M initial investment? what results can you show at an early stage? it's an honest question and I think about this all the time. If you can solve the funding issue, I would bet a lot more people will choose the more ambitious projects. What can a spaceship company accomplish with $100k?

pg 13y ago
By not starting with spaceships, but instead with something that can evolve into spaceships. Here's the first product of Boeing, which built the bottom stage of the Saturn V: http://www.boeing.com/boeing/history/boeing/bw.page http://www.boeing.com/boeing/history/boeing/bw.page
- carpdiem 13y ago
  I feel like this is not a good comparison. Boeing took fifty years to go from the company that built that plane, to the company that helped build the Saturn V. I'm all for long time horizons, but I don't think that most startup founders envision spending fifty years on a company in order to finally, at the end of that, get to do what they wanted to do in the first place.
  - pw 13y ago
    I don't know about most startup founders, but I think YC might be okay with a fifty-year time horizon given that Sam said that they invest with an "infinite time horizon" and that needing to raise a billion dollars over the course of a company's lifetime is a "plus".
  - netcan 13y ago
    Boeing didn't take a straight path from A to B so the timescale is not all that relevant. It's just an example of how things that seem impossible from a cold start seem more possible when you think in steps. It's not step 1 - raise $250m , step 2 - build spaceship. Elon Musk seems like the counterexample because he started with so much capital and credibility. But he was very obviously thinking steps from the start. Each one risky. Build engine. Build high end car. Buildlower end cars. Maybe then build parts for other manufacturers. Most big goals are reached in steps. The more difficult and risky the goal the more steps there are and the bigger and riskier they are likely to be but they are still steps. If your goal is building spaceships you could start by doing something useful with satellites as a step 1. This could be a kickstart-able sized undertaking. https://www.google.ie/search?q=site:https://www.kickstarter.com/+satellite https://www.google.ie/search?q=site:https://www.kickstarter.... Obviously if you are trying to push the boundaries of what a cold start startup can possibly achieve, you are going to find yourself on the difficult-impossible border region but that's the point, isn't it?