Comment by its_so_on | Hacker News Reader

Comment by its_so_on | Hacker News Reader

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Failing after creating a massively inflated bubble of a company (which is what in hindsight this would be IFF it fails) is not the kind of learning ANYONE needs.

That's why the pressure is so great on him.

EDIT: you guys don't like this comment. Let me generalize.

- Facebook is a bad example because it reached a 50B valuation in private equity deals.

It's better if you mention a company that has already IPO'd, been sold outright (founder not involved anymore), or has lower-valuation equity deals, so that the founder is not under as much pressure.

I would not like to be in the position of figureheading such a company pre-IPO.

This is just my personal taste. Please don't think that I'm trying to be prescriptive. You can trade places with Mr. Zuckerberg if you like. I'm just giving you my thoughts of a better example.

I give up, you guys clearly don't like my impressions of the pressure on him. I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree.

I don't think he's doing that. At least not planning to.

What I'm getting at (as mentioned in my other post) is that he already made private equity deals at a valuation of 50B. That kind of "learning experience" (not saying it WILL become one! That's why there is all this pressure) is not anything anyone needs. This isn't some future thing. Either the company is a 50B+ company indefinitely, or I don't want to be in his shoes.

That is not the kind of hedging I like in my life. I'd much prefer to be at a place where either I will make a graceful exit at 800 million and the company continues to deliver, or it never becomes worth than the 50 million, the last valuation it raised money at. (hypothetical example). If this hypothetical latter example fails, fine, nice learning experience.

If you fail after convincing someone to buy some of your company at a valuation of 50B, you're done. Facebook can never be worth less than it's been valued at, and there are plenty of similar properties that in retrospect were "bubbles". (myspace etc). This is why I wouldn't like to be in his shoes.

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