Hacker News Reader

How many investors turned down Airbnb, Uber, and DropBox? A lot.

> How many investors turned down Airbnb, Uber, and DropBox? A lot.

These naysayers may have made great business decisions both for themselves and for these startups companies. Not all investors will make a startup prosperous. Only the right investor will create that spark.

Investors influence on where a start-up will end up is overrated. It's mostly up to the founders, luck and the market with investors somewhere near the back of the list of factors.

> How many investors turned down Airbnb, Uber, and DropBox? A lot.

Airbnb and Uber barely generate profit domestically and operate at a loss internationally. Every investor not betting on inflated share prices has been smart not investing in those.

By your logic you shouldn't invest in a university education because you're not earning a profit while at University. This is what's important to understanding startup economics:

IF: CAC < NPV(LTV)

THEN: reinvest your earnings and generate zero to negative profit.

Where:

CAC: Customer Acquisition Cost

LTV: Lifetime Value of the Customer

NPV: Net Present Value

Uber brought in close to a billion in profit in it's developed markets (mostly USA) last year

Reply on news.ycombinator.com