
For A Stranger In Silicon Valley, Success Isn’t Only About Who You Know - vanwilder77
http://techcrunch.com/2012/12/01/stranger-in-the-valley/
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nlh
I know this refrain has been repeated often, but I'll take the bait again:

The tone of this article, like so many, continues to perpetuate the notion
that Startup Success(TM) = Raising VC Money.

Lest we forget our past (1999-2001), it is in fact possible to build a
_business_ -- that happens to be in the startup stage of life -- that actually
generates revenue and, dare I say, profits. Both may be small at the outset,
but perhaps enough to get the ball rolling. Maybe even enough to scale
(slowly).

Then, if there's a real opportunity and you think some outside funds might
help scale quicker/better, you could raise some money. If you really need it.

(And though many of these lessons will still hold true then, the process will
be quite different and less of a 'game'. I assure the budding entrepreneurs
out there that the old adage "Banks want to lend money to people who don't
need it" holds true for VC as well.)

~~~
Cherian
Author & Co-founder here.

Sorry if this sounded that way. I didn’t in any way try to imply raising money
= success. In fact raising capital pushes you to succeed faster, which in some
ways is not the right strategy IMHO. You need your organic growth.

That said, with Cucumbertown the relationship with our investors have grown to
such a level that money has become least of the value they have added to our
startup. You essentially have people on you side who can open doors for you
with an email or phone call. These investors are mostly entrepreneurs of
previous era who have incredible insights and connections that spell the
difference between success and failures. Cucumbertown, 4 weeks into launch has
2-3 such examples already.

Cucumbertown didn’t intend to raise funds. It happened to us serendipitously.
In retrospect, that’s probably the best thing that happened to us yet from a
business development perspective.

~~~
nlh
No apologies necessary - and your point is great :) Good investors definitely
add to your network -- the definition of "smart money" (vs "dumb money") is
that you're taking on a partner who's going to help you in more ways than just
paying the bills. Thanks for writing up your experience Cherian and good luck
with Cucumbertown. Looks like a cool site.

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diego
Honest question to the author: given that you haven't been successful yet (at
least from the information in the article), why do you think you're qualified
to give advice about how to be successful?

~~~
001sky
The advice seems qualified to networking/fundraising.

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louischatriot
tldr version: <http://tldr.io/tldrs/50ba19a9cfbff44a4d000441>

I can relate to most of it even though I don't work in the Valley. Especially
the "make friends and listen to their insights" part. We are friends with a
few more experienced team and everytime we talk I learn something.

~~~
LiveTheDream
I think tldr.io is neat, but repetitive self-promotion is really not
appropriate here (not to mention that these self-promoting comments don't even
disclose that you are one of the people behind tldr!). Most of your recent
comments are the same type, and you even had a self-promoting submission
killed already. Please stop. Thanks!

~~~
4clicknet
I found the tldr link to be useful.

I think that if the content is relevant then there's nothing wrong with self-
promotion. I looked at the comment history and he linked to tldr in 7/10 of
his last comments over the last week. That doesn't seem excessively
repetitive, although a disclosure might be appropriate.

------
jjtheblunt
"whom"

