What Raising Money Means To Me

TL;DR:

Initially raised some money and then reality set in as we didn't have a product. Whoops! This made me learn a handful of lessons about humility and not claiming that you're a big fucking deal. Don't boast about funding; it's disgusting and only startup fuckers do that.

We raised a $68 million round C! Check out our linked press release! Not just that, but we scored the best VC firms in the industry: Andreessen Horowitz and KPCB. They add on top of our existing funders Norwest & RRE. And we have amazing people joining our board.

We're proud that this investment is going to let us follow our vision and execute on our plans. In humility, of course. We're not startup fuckers who boast about a round of financing.

Prediction: We will see many more fundraising announcements that lead with self-depreciation. Modesty is back in style.

Nevertheless, it's a PR stunt. Aside from the truism that "raising money is not success", there wasn't any content of value. If you still need that message, you haven't been reading HN very carefully.

I was lucky enough to speak with Ben last fall and hear this story in person (minus raising their C round). I was also lucky enough to see their new offices in NYC.

My take away is that Ben is one of the most genuine people I have met who has learned some very important lessons and mistakes that he is willing to share. This is a trait that I have seen is great leaders of companies. Quarky is a company that is really thinking outside the box.

People reading HN are not their target demographic, their target demographic spends money on appliances and home nicknacks. Quarky is essentially a self contained Kickstarter, where they are vertically integrated. They sell products before they are made, but have the capability to crank out the products once their order goal is met.

My takeaway from this blog post is that Ben has been humbled by his experiences and is willing to share those with other people. This is most likely one reason why he has been extremely successful with Quarky and has raised money from some of the best VCs in the business.

This is the best fund raising announcement blog post I have read. I like how it starts out with putting fundraising in perspective, it is part of the journey and not the accomplishment.

Nail on the head - I wish the startup press would do stories on companies 12 months after they send out fundraising PR.

I also wish the startup press would stop romanticizing startup weekends, buses, trains, planes and boats.

This guy knows what fundraising really means. Great article. Everyone should read it.

Thanks for writing this Ben Kaufman! I gained by you sharing your experience.

This should be required reading for anybody interested in startups.