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Focusing on the former milestone before the latter is silly. Just because a company has billion dollar ambitions does not mean it isn't focused on the first mi

by zaidf 13y ago

Focusing on the former milestone before the latter is silly. Just because a company has billion dollar ambitions does not mean it isn't focused on the first million dollars. What remains true is that the first million can be just as hard(if not harder) as the other big jumps. It is easy to play armchair VC and think we know what will and won't turn into a billion dollar business. If you have seen the Bessemer anti-portfolio, even Apple, Google and Intel were far from no-brainer investments(http://www.bvp.com/portfolio/antiportfolio http://www.bvp.com/portfolio/antiportfolio). So what matters is not so much that AngelList is full of companies that will never be billion dollar businesses. What matters is that among those companies are billion dollar companies and every investment represents a bet by a group of folks.

7Figures2Commas 13y ago
Unfortunately you're focused too much on the investor, and not on the entrepreneur. Investors have the luxury of spraying and praying because they primarily invest capital; founders, whose investment consists of time and opportunity cost, don't have this luxury. In simple terms, your investors have n lottery tickets, and you have one. Statistically, as a founder, you are not likely to build a billion dollar business. That is worth repeating, often. Pretending that your odds are better than they really are and working yourself into the ground because Silicon Valley culture has convinced you that it's the only way is foolish. Which leads to my final point: if you're an entrepreneur, it's worth thinking long and hard about the path you take. If you're convinced that your ambitions should be measured in 9 and 10 figures and you are enticed by the funding game, you're often not just unnecessarily sacrificing your quality of life, you may be sacrificing the potential to build a successful 7 or 8 figure business.
- zaidf 13y ago
  Finally, in response to your edit that attempting to build billion-dollar businesses is the norm: you can only come to such a belief if you have firmly ensconced yourself in the Silicon Valley startup scene. You misunderstood me. I never said shooting for billion dollar businesses is the norm across the country but rather in the context of startups, particularly those that YC is most interested in funding. I'm not debating or necessarily even disagree with what you are saying about founders and their chances of success. But that is not what we are debating here. The primary debate here is whether Sam Altman's post to his audience makes the right point about his message. I think it does.
  - 7Figures2Commas 13y ago
    I think I get it. What you're saying is that YCombinator's target audience is highly intelligent individuals, savvy enough to spot untapped market opportunities and capable enough to have a chance at exploiting them, but who are either too lazy to look at the IPO and M&A data or aren't very good at statistics? Personally, I find it hard to believe that every YCombinator-backed founder believes he's chasing a billion-dollar opportunity, but maybe I'm delusional.
  - 001sky 13y ago
    You can spray n pray capital... Its a bad strategy for your life, tho The 'tortured artist' is a romantic notion It's that meme that is being co-opted by VCs here The 'entrepreneur as tortured artiste' Since the 'starving artist' basically sums up the ideal sucker for a major label record deal (ie, weak negotiating leverage) Its worth being critical of over-adopting the analogy. (at least, if your the starving artist). That being said, nothing clears the mind like no food on the plate. And a clear mind is what you need to succeed.

by zaidf 13y ago

7Figures2Commas 13y ago

Unfortunately you're focused too much on the investor, and not on the entrepreneur. Investors have the luxury of spraying and praying because they primarily invest capital; founders, whose investment consists of time and opportunity cost, don't have this luxury. In simple terms, your investors have n lottery tickets, and you have one. Statistically, as a founder, you are not likely to build a billion dollar business. That is worth repeating, often. Pretending that your odds are better than they really are and working yourself into the ground because Silicon Valley culture has convinced you that it's the only way is foolish. Which leads to my final point: if you're an entrepreneur, it's worth thinking long and hard about the path you take. If you're convinced that your ambitions should be measured in 9 and 10 figures and you are enticed by the funding game, you're often not just unnecessarily sacrificing your quality of life, you may be sacrificing the potential to build a successful 7 or 8 figure business.

zaidf 13y ago
Finally, in response to your edit that attempting to build billion-dollar businesses is the norm: you can only come to such a belief if you have firmly ensconced yourself in the Silicon Valley startup scene. You misunderstood me. I never said shooting for billion dollar businesses is the norm across the country but rather in the context of startups, particularly those that YC is most interested in funding. I'm not debating or necessarily even disagree with what you are saying about founders and their chances of success. But that is not what we are debating here. The primary debate here is whether Sam Altman's post to his audience makes the right point about his message. I think it does.
- 7Figures2Commas 13y ago
  I think I get it. What you're saying is that YCombinator's target audience is highly intelligent individuals, savvy enough to spot untapped market opportunities and capable enough to have a chance at exploiting them, but who are either too lazy to look at the IPO and M&A data or aren't very good at statistics? Personally, I find it hard to believe that every YCombinator-backed founder believes he's chasing a billion-dollar opportunity, but maybe I'm delusional.
- 001sky 13y ago
  You can spray n pray capital... Its a bad strategy for your life, tho The 'tortured artist' is a romantic notion It's that meme that is being co-opted by VCs here The 'entrepreneur as tortured artiste' Since the 'starving artist' basically sums up the ideal sucker for a major label record deal (ie, weak negotiating leverage) Its worth being critical of over-adopting the analogy. (at least, if your the starving artist). That being said, nothing clears the mind like no food on the plate. And a clear mind is what you need to succeed.