BitGeek

7 ms·

31.
by BitGeek 19y ago
Great article! And this is a business that is going to grow at the same rate whether they have venture funding or not. Sure they could increase their leverage a bit, but this "lifestyle business" is more likely to be a success than the a
32.
by BitGeek 19y ago
He errors in assuming that if your company has 10X potential you should take venture capital. He doesn't recognize that Venture Capital increases the risk of you having a 0X result. (Probably becuase he's only had good experiences.) I'd
33.
by BitGeek 19y ago
No. The price of milk, oil and gas are all effected by inflation. Inflation comes from only one source- an increase in the money supply. When the government prints lots of money, inflation gets high (like the %10-%20 we're seeing now). W
34.
by BitGeek 19y ago
This graph is in error. Historically the price of gas has been declining over the period shown, if actual inflation figures were used. The NYT uses government provided CPI based inflation- and CPI is based in part on the price of gas, etc
35.
by BitGeek 19y ago
Your plane analogy was responding to a strawman anyway... thus it was pretty asinine to begin with. I'm sure concensus management has worked for you-- never said it didn't and haven't said its impossible. However, the problem is that you
36.
by BitGeek 19y ago
And are they really even called founders when you can only name one?
37.
by BitGeek 19y ago
Right, but were they founding employees (with one clear leader) or were they all founders who had equal say? PG advocates consensus management, and that's the real sticky wicket.
38.
by BitGeek 19y ago
A software / internet company doesn't have to build factories, doesn't have to build hardware, doesn't have to coordinate nearly as complex a marketing campaign, doesn't have to raise as much money, and doesn't have to have as many engineer
39.
by BitGeek 19y ago
No, he doesn't. He generally reports on things in a pretty factual way... the only politics is in his choice of topics to cover. He's a libertarian.
40.
by BitGeek 19y ago
The best way to help people is not to give them money, but to use that money to build businesses, either by investing in them directly, or via public markets, etc. You just give it away and it becomes a curse... for instance, a lot of the
41.
by BitGeek 19y ago
I know oliver stone was being ironic when he wrote that, but he was spot on accurate. A great movie...
42.
VCs cut off startup's oxygen(gigaom.com)
1 points by BitGeek 19y ago|0 comments
43.
by BitGeek 19y ago
And don't for a second think that getting a cofounder is a requirement for success.
44.
by BitGeek 19y ago
For instance, look at plentyoffish.com Not only did this guy not get a cofounder, he has never gotten any employees. He's making millions by himself, a total solo effort. In fact there area lot of examples out there of people doing this..
45.
by BitGeek 19y ago
actually, most of the companies I've worked for were started by an individual, and most of the successful ones were as well. But my point is that there has to be someone in charge. You can have "cofounders" so long as they know that the buc
46.
by BitGeek 19y ago
My original post was based on my experience. PG responded with absolute (and absolutely asinine) claims about statistics. I'd like to see him provide some evidence. Giving him more "starting cred" is the problem with the YC way of doing
47.
by BitGeek 19y ago
Dauntless-- No need to warn me, I've seen the strife of having co-founders, and I've seen the harmony of having a solo found er and co-founder teams that lasted 20 years. I don't think its a factor of finding "good" co-founders. I think un
48.
by BitGeek 19y ago
Actually, I'm not confusing them, PG is. What I advocate is having a single leader, and whether you call employees 2-4 "co-founders" or not, they all know who is boss. PG thinks that you have to have consensus and multiple founders all wi
49.
by BitGeek 19y ago
Exactly. And be aware of the risks. As a solo founder you need people you can bounce ideas off of. (And in my opinion this is the purpose of an advisory board, or even friends who have no skin in the game)... and as a group of co-founder
50.
by BitGeek 19y ago
You presume you have to have a cofounder...even that having a cofounder is an advantage-- while you recognize the results of having one. I'm telling you that there is no significant advantage of consensus management-- that there is a big d
51.
by BitGeek 19y ago
Ok, I see why they did it, now they need to advertise the fact on their home page for everyone to see. Pretty asinine to call yourselves a security company and then just role over like this-- no court fight, no resistance. Further, this al
52.
by BitGeek 19y ago
My title gave a little bit the wrong impression-- it sounds like I'm saying that cofounders are bad. I'm not. What I mean is, if you don't already have a cofounder, don't get one. You don't need one. If you find someone, then maybe that
53.
by BitGeek 19y ago
If you've known someone for awhile and you know they would be a great person to start a company with (and you have the emotional maturity to be abel to tell that- I mean, how many people think they are going to get married to the person th
54.
by BitGeek 19y ago
Well, I think it depends on what those 2-3 bad moves are... I don't think its that tenuous-- when you're self funded. ( When you take outside investment, at least in the US, its a situation where you take a lot more risk...) I'm glad you a
55.
by BitGeek 19y ago
Right... somewhere "get a cofounder" became a blocking requirement for starting a company, and that's a mistake. Go forward, and make it happen, and don't worry if you don't have a cofounder.
56.
by BitGeek 19y ago
Apologies if we're stating to go in circles... 1. Not if you take them into your confidence and make them know that you value their opinion. Who doesn't want the CEO's ear? Its really all about the attitude you show them (and their person
57.
by BitGeek 19y ago
"the single biggest determent of a startups success is product/market fit, not team" I believe this must be true because I can't count the number of times when I've heard investors say "it doesn't matter about the product, we invest in the
58.
by BitGeek 19y ago
I think its kinda arrogant to say that founders are superior and thus its disparaging to call someone an employee. Employees should be highly valued. Inadvertantly you've highlighted another problem with having cofounders, especially in a
59.
by BitGeek 19y ago
Actually, the converse is true- most successful companies in the US are founded and lead by a single individual. There is an underlying reason that those companies that failed failed- no two people are alike. When you take two people and
60.
by BitGeek 19y ago
Right, and that mutual support can come, in large part, from other employees. One company I worked at, due to the personality mix, was kinda rough, and we were in a tough time funding wize and market wise-- but the office manager, and olde

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