

Brief thoughts as co-founder of acquired Fanvibe (YCS10) - kineticac
http://artchang.com/fanvibe-acquired-by-berecruited

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maxklein
It seems to me that the real winners in such deals are the investors. They put
some money into this company, those dudes work extremely hard for a year,
while the investors chillax, then they sell off. The investors make a nice
chunk of change, while these dudes transfer to another company where they will
continue to work extremely hard for another year or more.

To me, 'startups' are not really companies. They are vehicles for speculative
activity by a certain class of people. All those drones being encouraged into
spending so much time working in these companies so that investors will make
money could also work on creating real businesses that they own and that will
make them real money.

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gruseom
You've got it exactly backwards. So exactly, in fact, that it looks like
trolling, but oh well...

I know nothing about Fanvibe's acquisition, but typically in these cases it's
the "dudes" who control the business and they're selling it because they want
to, because it's making them a life-changing amount of money.

Meanwhile the investors make a small return but lose the chance of a big
return, which is what they really need in order to succeed at startup
investing. Good investors support the founders anyway, because they know it's
not in their interest to thwart them and also because they are often nice
people who are happy to see the "dudes" succeed.

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maxklein
An investor puts $20k in 15 companies and gets perhaps $50k back. Over the sum
of his companies he's getting quite a lot of money for doing nothing but
having a few dinners and answering some emails.

On the other hand, these guys are making perhaps $300k each, which they can
easily make as highly capable consultants. And they end up with nothing much
after that, just the chance to work even more.

The problem is not venture capitalists, it's those "brand name" investors who
are putting $20k in many many companies.

~~~
wheels
The "brand name" investors are exactly the ones that don't "chillax". Casual
angel investors usually lose money. The ones that have strong deal-flow don't
get that by just occasionally showing up in Mountain View with a checkbook.
Also note that most of the "super angels" at this point are really just mini-
VCs. Conway, McClure, Sacca, et al are mostly investing other people's money.

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randy
Loved the quote from Evan Beard:

"Remember that your mind is a fortress of impenetrable happiness."

Common words of wisdom that never seem to be taken to heart nearly enough.
Reminded me of another gem from Daniel Gross of Greplin:

"It’s very important to constantly tell yourself if anything, how lucky you
are to be here in the first place. Even if you aren’t in the valley, remember
how lucky you are to live in the 21st century."

Congrats Art! Thanks for showing us what fortresses can do ;)

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bmac27
I'm more curious about whether or not the founders felt Fanvibe's business
model was a successful one. Did they feel they reached an optimal
product/market fit? Or was there potentially more to give?

I've been doing research in the space(s) of sports & gaming, particularly in-
game predictions, which I think can be super compelling in the right context.
While I wasn't that enthralled with other aspects of the product, I.E.
checking in to games (why, when I can just use a location-based service?),
trash talking with other fans (can do that via social media, along with team-
centric blogs/forums) etc, it seemed like Fanvibe was ahead of the curve with
this in-game prediction element; at least from a non-gambling perspective.

Just curious what their thoughts were on this.

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keeptrying
Whats the average each co-founder would get in an exit like this? Would the
earn out be a large or small percentage of this amount?

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edanm
Congrats!

And I have to say, I've rarely seen a post about being acquired that sounded
so _happy_ about it. Really seems like you'll enjoy working at beRecruited, so
best of luck to you!

~~~
kineticac
Maybe I'm just really optimistic? =)

