Comment by modi15 | Hacker News Reader

Comment by modi15 | Hacker News Reader

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1. First figure out plan B - what happens if you are not able to raise funding in the next 6 months.

2. Assume a position of power - you will make this company big even without funding because plan B is in place.

3. Talk to investors from this position. You are smarter than them. You know more about this business. You don't need this particular investor to invest because others have already signed up.

4. Treat investors like shit. Dont look too eager to setup meetings. Schedule meetings a week out atleast. When you drop into a meeting do NOT spend more than half an hour to 45 minutes. Do NOT answer all questions for investors - be selective about information you disclose - push answers to next meeting - make yourself scarce.

5. Do bullshit padding around your entire story. If something doesnt sound too good dont disclose that information. Make up stuff to make things look good.

There are people who will find the points above ethically questionable. These people most likely dont know what it takes to raise money.

IMO 1-3 is good advice, 4 has the good info weighed down by the wrong mental model, 5 is just awful.

From #4: I think it is critical to be efficient with your time. For example, make meetings short and do not waste a lot of your time getting a few extra tidbits for an investor. This has nothing to do with how you treat investors. And treating anyone like shit can backfire, probably not this time but later on. Be nice. Efficient, strong, self-interested but nice. It has much better ROI.

From #5. Do not make things up. On the other hand, do not disclose unrequested information that does not make your project look good

This is terrible advice if I've ever seen any. You do not start a productive long-term relationship my lying to investors or treating them like shit.

I have noticed a growing trend in generally arrogant founders in the past few years, and it's disappointing to see. I do have a strong "no assholes" criteria, and won't fund such founders no matter how good everything else looks. At the end of the day, a startup is people first, and life is too short to work with assholes.

OP is clearly misguided if their "advice" is be an asshole who lies and treats people like shit until they get what they want.

I agree with most of what you wrote but:

> Make up stuff to make things look good.

That's gonna backfire.

Agreed, lying is never a good long term strategy

Theranos is a good example of why that doesn’t work.

I'd say the opposite. It actually worked for about 15 years... that's a pretty good run and shows you just how susceptible to bullshit some of these guys are...

I think the sentiment behind #5 is right, but your wording is wrong. It's not about bullshitting. It's about storytelling and choosing which parts of your story to emphasise and how to frame them. People don't realise the extend to which raising money is simply storytelling. And with any story, you dictate where your story takes somebody. Investors want to believe in your story (especially angels / early VC) so give them the story they want to hear.

That said, it's a fine line between good storytelling and out-right lying. You should be telling a story "based on true events", not a fantasy epic that's easy to pick apart. Credibility is everything. And just like watching an implausible action movie, playing with the truth is easy to spot, and the fastest way to damage your credibility.

+1. Storytelling is necessary.

#4 looks reasonable if you remove the first sentence (“treat investors as shit”).

"do bullshit" is unethical and possibly illegal. More importantly, overpromise underdeliver is a sure way to fail.

You cut out the context. It wasn't "do bullshit", but "Do bullshit padding around your entire story."

That is pretty much every company out there. Company leaders revise their history to make them more attractive, come up with visions in hindsight and add ethic concerns etc.

OP did not say what you claim he/she did.

So, if I read correctly : "add ethic concerns" is "bullshit padding". Right ?

No, you did not read that correctly. What has happened to HN? Suddenly there's trolls everywhere.

There's a difference between stretching the truth and outright lying.

Outright lying always bites you in the end.

Questionable? You have to do all the above to get a job sometimes.

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