

Dear Startups: stop begging investors and pitch your clients - grenek
http://blog.123ship.it/2013/03/dear-startups-stop-begging-investors_7.html

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Mitchella
This is a slightly ignorant claim to make. There are plenty of startup
companies who have different business models than just "make a program and
sell it".

Additionally, you're assuming that every startup is also a saas startup. Most
aren't, meaning they might have a thousands in lets say production molds and
an order of 10000 units from retailers. They'll need the investment money to
help them fulfill orders and grow.

Lastly for many other startups there are costs that exceed past general
development. Security is a good example of one of these large costs especially
if you're dealing with money or private data in any way. These additional
necessary costs could be minor but for many startups they're large and unable
to be paid for by the hopeful entrepreneur.

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grenek
I think you'd agree that any advice is completely universal. Selling preorders
is a solution for most cases, but we of course can discuss the exceptions. If
your selling process is different than "get money -> ship the product" than
you will always encounter cashflow problems and maybe it isn't so wise to
start such a project as a startup.

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meerita
Another article about stop thinking investment and do something that magically
will work without the initial money inyection.

I think these articles are good motivators but they don't fit in the real
world. Let me sumarize my view point:

1\. You can develop your MVP at home with your buddies, yes, but maybe you
need money to make something crucial that requieres some expert contracting to
get it done. 2\. You can make a web app, yes, but maybe you need money to get
some important licences to operate in the real world. 3\. You can launch your
project with a pitch, but, it will take ages to reach profitability without
proper advertising campaign.

I guess some startups became important businesses in less than a month without
money inyection, but they're not the rule and, in most cases, they've managed
to get important attention from the press.

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mbesto
Totally agreed. I'll simplify this even more - people need to pay bills.

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cmaradcliffe
I agree that business often need some kind of investment to help get started
but it is not always the case.

It feels like the end game of any startup these days is to close a round of
investment from a top-tier fund as if that creates a business in itself. That
point is very much just the beginning and then the real work starts.

We need to get back to thinking of investment as an aid to building a
sustainable business not the first step to a sale to {insert large tech firm
here}

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pc86
It doesn't create business but it does get the founders a paycheck.

The more startup stuff I read the more I think a lot of founders are just in
it to get investment and draw a salary from that while they around bloviating
about the latest buzzwords rather than either building a business or getting a
job.

~~~
cmaradcliffe
Heaven forbid we would actually have to get a job - imagine all the new
buzzwords we would have to learn!

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Hermel
Pitching to a large client puts you at risk of becoming a contractor for that
client. This is a dangerous trap if your goal is to sell a scalable product.

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sylvainww
Exactly. Get some clients to pay for your product (or your soon-to-be
product).

I am not ever again doing the mistake of developing something in my corner. I
want to see the money!

Find market/fit before trying to grow.

~~~
grenek
I share the same experiences, now I'm working using the methodology you
described.

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clark-kent
There is a difference between clients and customers. If I ran a startup I
would prefer to have customers not clients.

You don't know how an idea will turn out until you build the mvp. The Only
validation you should need is that you are building something to solve a pain
you are having.

It's easy to go overboard seeking validation data for an idea, don't forget to
trust your intuition, its often a more accurate source of data.

~~~
jt2190
I think that the author is not a native english speaker, and means 'customers'
when he writes 'clients'.

~~~
grenek
You're right - I've had customers on my mind ;)

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mctx
A couple of typos: shedule -> schedule, developement -> development, won't be
broken -> broke

~~~
grenek
Thank you - I've edited my post. Sometimes I don't catch all of my typos, but
I always urge to improve my english!

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ivix
Argh. Pitch TO your clients. TO your clients. English - use it right.

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dbuxton
This is just wrong. Pitch when used as a verb can - and sometimes must - be
used without "to" ("He pitched me a new startup idea" vs *"He pitched to me a
new startup idea"). As a noun it does need "to".

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calinet6
He's correct in this context though, because it is ambiguous as written. It
has a great many meanings, in fact: you could mean to take your clients and
throw them at a high velocity. It could mean to take some of your clients and
heave them into a pile. It could mean to throw your clients into a
fermentation vessel. You might mean to suspend your clients by poles to make a
temporary shelter out of them for your camping trip.

"Pitch" when used as a verb without "to" has many more possible meanings than
when used with "to"—the "to" clarifies the subject-object relationship.
Without "to," the the clients could either be the object or the subject, for
example it could be the clients "being pitched to" (they are the _object_ of
the verb) or "being pitched" (where they are the _subject_ ). Adding "to"
clarifies and locks down the meaning of the sentence, and a sentence without
ambiguity is generally the better one.

Incidentally, adding "an idea" at the end ("Pitch your clients an idea") also
clarifies the subject—the subject of the pitch is clearly the idea, since it
comes after the object and that's just the ordering rule that English likes;
you could also reverse them, but then you'd need the "to" again to clarify the
relationship, eg: "Pitch an idea __to __your clients".

Thus, as it stands, "Pitch to your clients" is indeed the more correct and
clear English sentence.

However, given English is not the writer's first language, he's doing
extremely well and should be commended. English is an extremely difficult
language with a myriad of special cases and nuances, and it takes many years
of dedicated practice to master them. We can only be supportive and
educational, and hopefully this was.

~~~
grenek
wow, what a comment :) thanks a lot for your understanding and very, very
usefull feedback!

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wahsd
Dear Investors: stop pitching the startups you invested in

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saosebastiao
It is annoying, but it is also part of their job...at least if they are doing
it right.

