
Ask HN: Do you use the money you have made to market yourself? - brockf
I&#x27;ve 27 and been an entrepreneur for over a decade, bootstrapping several companies that have been acquired for increasingly large amounts. My intuition is that this history is one of my best assets and good reason for people to hire me.<p>But the <i>dollar amounts</i> of these acquisitions are both (1) the real indicators of success and (2) not obvious to outsiders. On the one hand, then, I want to share them openly in blog posts, marketing materials, etc. On the other hand, I&#x27;ve been raised not to talk about money, and would be embarrassed for friends to see blog posts that include mentions of these amounts.<p>I&#x27;m not sure the best way forward. How would you or have you dealt with this issue before?
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ChuckMcM
Ok, so let me counter your question with a question, "Why do you care?"

To understand that let's unpack the question you are asking. You have equated
dollars to success. But in the world dollars are _not_ related to success they
are related to luck. Acts are related to success, "This person did _x_.",
"This person created _y_." or "This person discovered _z_." Those are _acts_
not dollars. Do you consider someone who won the lottery by picking the
numbers that were chosen by a random number generator successful? They might
have way more money than you do at this point, does that bother you?

Elon Musk isn't "successful" because he has a lot of money, he is successful
because he created the first private company that could put things into orbit
and recover them. He is successful because he changed how the world thought
about electric cars. He is successful because he _did_ things that no one else
had managed to do before.

Creating a bunch of companies is a great start, and its great that you've
managed to acquire some working capital. The measure of your worth, of your
success, is how you decide to apply that capital. (hint: using it to 'market'
your image is not a good use of capital.) Want some ideas? Develop a way to
redevelop cities ravaged by war. Find an economic model that creates housing
for people that can't currently afford it. Develop a way to farm that
generates food with better safety and fewer resources, then prove it can
scale. Invent a way to use wave power to run a desalination unit such that a
unit on the beach can provide potable water for islanders or inland villagers.

You don't have to be brilliant, you've got a skill for making money by
creating businesses, now combine that skill with someone who is brilliant but
has no business acumen at all. As a team you can change the world whereas
separately you both have little impact.

Change your success focus from dollars to impact and you won't need to market
yourself.

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loumf
If you want to be hired you could imply the amounts on the resume you send in.

If you are seeking a job where selling companies is part of the job (or
anything in M&A), you would just list the numbers if you thought they were
good enough.

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erac1e
Watching Dragons Den, the investors ears prick up when someone walks in and
says that have done (x)million pound exit(s) in the past. It gets their
attention and I think for Marketing that is the purpose right? So I think
posting your results of money earned for investors would be a good way to
entice investors to call you.

ChuckMcM's post says making lots of money on exit isn't what matters, the acts
count.

That is true, but I would say getting the attention of your prospects is what
matters here, and buying and selling a company for a huge profit repeatedly
will get their attention and make them call you to find out more. Then you can
tell them about the acts.

I guess this is really about how to resolve your conflict: your privacy and
money values vs. wanting to be bold in marketing yourself. Only you can answer
that. Personally I don't want to have friends who are uncomfortable with what
I earn, be that $0 or millions. Family is a different matter though, and also
safety concerns (extortion, ransoms etc.) but then there are plenty of rich
people bragging on TV shows so it's not like you will be the only one.

Just my 2c. I have no experience in this, so take with a pinch of salt.

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coralreef
Your dollar amounts are probably meaningless since you're looking for work.

If you want to market yourself, then share the lessons you learned executing.
Tell stories from your startups and show how they can help people.

"I took sales revenue from $100k to $5m in under 2 years" is more interesting
then "I sold my company for X dollars". Making money seems like validation,
but its just a result, it doesn't explain how you're a hardworking expert in
some industry.

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brockf
Sorry, I'm not 'looking for work' as in handing out resumés, looking for a
9-5. The acquisitions are in the 7-figures. But I am always looking for new
opportunities -- new startups to work with, etc.

I do really like your point about focusing on the operational metrics and
processes, instead of the acquisition value.

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danieltillett
What are you looking for exactly? Good ideas, good people, interesting
projects, etc?

~~~
brockf
Always looking for good ideas and interesting projects :)

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JSeymourATL
Cultivating a public persona can be helpful in the role of your company's
pitchman-- think Bezos, Branson, even Trump.

In job search mode however, you might look more like an out-of-work TV
celebrity preening for attention. Instead of marketing yourself like a
product-- better to quietly seek out individuals working on interesting &
difficult problems that you can help solve.

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msurocks
Its a tough situation and people want to hire the winners and you just need to
show them how you have won and you have winning habit.

