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HERE'S WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE WHEN a STARTUP WINS BIG AT Y COMBINATOR

2 points by chumchum 12y ago

MichaelCrawford 12y ago
It is hard for me to read stuff like this. It really is. While I really am happy for those who do well for themselves by seeking venture capital, the desert is littered with the bones of startup founders. As well as the bones of investors - this because Angel Investors are commonly friends, family members and colleagues who are not the sophisticated investors as VCs have to be. If your uncle invested ten grand in your iOS App, then it totally tanked, I expect your uncle would still manage to get by somehow, but you would always regret having asked him to invest. Of more concern to me, in my actual experience, is that it is quite common for VCs to demand control of the company's actual operations, and then to rocket it right into the ground, because their concern is the exit revenue, and not for the end-users of the product or service, or for the company's employees. Not all VCs are this way, many VCs are quite good. I have scads of respect for people like Ann Winblad (http://www.humwin.com/ http://www.humwin.com/). However there are far more startups than their are wise, or even ethical VCs. Thus I have been determined for many years to demonstrate that one can succeed without investment of any sort. I know one specific person who did this, the father of a close friend. Dr. Sims and another physician founded California Cryobank in the early 1970s, each by investing $2500.00 of their own money. Now California Cryobank is "The Nation's Largest Sperm Bank". Their, uh, "product" sells like hotcakes because our little swimmers just don't like they used to swim, back in the day before chemical pesticides. There are many times that I do contemplate seeking VC. That comes to mind for the most part when I visit the offices of VC-backed startups, or of established and successful firms. It's not about the foosball table or all-you-can drink microbrew. It's about having coworkers - real live human beings - and an actual desk, rather than paying for my table at a wifi spot by somehow coming up with the two bucks required to purchase a Grande Pike's Place Roast. While I do believe in what I'm doing, what I hope to achieve and to demonstrate by my own example that there really is a better way, it's hard sometimes. It Really Fucking Is.

2 points by chumchum 12y ago

It is hard for me to read stuff like this. It really is. While I really am happy for those who do well for themselves by seeking venture capital, the desert is littered with the bones of startup founders. As well as the bones of investors - this because Angel Investors are commonly friends, family members and colleagues who are not the sophisticated investors as VCs have to be. If your uncle invested ten grand in your iOS App, then it totally tanked, I expect your uncle would still manage to get by somehow, but you would always regret having asked him to invest. Of more concern to me, in my actual experience, is that it is quite common for VCs to demand control of the company's actual operations, and then to rocket it right into the ground, because their concern is the exit revenue, and not for the end-users of the product or service, or for the company's employees. Not all VCs are this way, many VCs are quite good. I have scads of respect for people like Ann Winblad (http://www.humwin.com/ http://www.humwin.com/). However there are far more startups than their are wise, or even ethical VCs. Thus I have been determined for many years to demonstrate that one can succeed without investment of any sort. I know one specific person who did this, the father of a close friend. Dr. Sims and another physician founded California Cryobank in the early 1970s, each by investing $2500.00 of their own money. Now California Cryobank is "The Nation's Largest Sperm Bank". Their, uh, "product" sells like hotcakes because our little swimmers just don't like they used to swim, back in the day before chemical pesticides. There are many times that I do contemplate seeking VC. That comes to mind for the most part when I visit the offices of VC-backed startups, or of established and successful firms. It's not about the foosball table or all-you-can drink microbrew. It's about having coworkers - real live human beings - and an actual desk, rather than paying for my table at a wifi spot by somehow coming up with the two bucks required to purchase a Grande Pike's Place Roast. While I do believe in what I'm doing, what I hope to achieve and to demonstrate by my own example that there really is a better way, it's hard sometimes. It Really Fucking Is.