

The Twice Shy Entrepreneur - raghus
http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/12/09/the-twice-shy-entrepreneur/

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staunch
Of course already rich investors think you should risk it all so they can make
their funds. Personally I think Techcrunch _should_ be a bit conservative.
Arrington was making millions a year by himself in almost pure profit. There's
no obvious (to me) way he can replicate his success by throwing resources at
it. He found a solid niche and if he just managed to grow it a few times what
it is today he'd making $50 million+ over the next 5-10 years or so and he
could share that with a small group of helpers.

That's probably the kind of business most of us will grow. It's up to
investors to choose businesses like Facebook or Google, which really proved
the grow fast/big quick idea. They had some huge ideas and by taking equally
huge risks they've managed to do really well. All the people (myself included)
who would have sold Facebook for $1 billion to Yahoo would have lost out on
the amazing opportunity Zuckerberg has now to fundamentally change the way
people use the internet.

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shogunmike
I'm not so sure...is Facebook really likely to be around in 10-20 years? If it
was me, I'd have cashed out a while back.

Although, I'm sure that if Zuckerberg had his way Facebook would become
FacebookOS, with Word/Excel/Open Office running as Facebook Apps next to your
wall. Now THERE'S a business idea!

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shogunmike
Upon immediate inspection it looks as if good business sense went straight out
of the boardroom windows from this article. Looking closer, however, you can
see the reasoning behind these decisions.

One just has to be aware of where the profitability is arising from. Since
IPOs seem to be a dying breed and acquisition becomes the latest exit strategy
du jour, its clear that larger firms are buying startups not just for brand
value or even the developed application itself but rather the collective
expertise of the individuals involved.

So in some sense startup acquisition may be seen as a one-time consultation
fee, with no hourly rates attached!

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skmurphy
What a difference a year makes.

Now the "newcomer entrepreneurs" have had the chance to lay employees off and
are encouraged by the VC's on their boards to focus on survival instead of
bold growth.

