On: Ask HN: Sell my startup for $14M because I can't raise $2M?

[alain94040]

Owning 100% of $14M is better than owning 10% of a $100M exit after 5 more years of hard work.

[mseebach → alain94040]

You'll have gone through some pretty insane fundraising rounds and extreme growth then near-collapse to pull those numbers off.

Raising 2M at 14M puts the OP's stake at 87.5%. Long long way to 10%.

[gkoberger → mseebach]

Not really. $14M vs $100M is an order of magnitude difference. By the time you hit $100M, there's a lot more than just dilution. There's early employees, an option pool (~30%), down rounds, advisors, etc. And, there's liquidation preferences – someone with only 10% could have a 2x liquidation preference. I'm not saying it's likely, but it's also not insane to think they'd only end up with $10M out of $100M.

[codingdave → mseebach]

You are arguing over the wrong details -- taking anything percentage of anything right now is worth more than owning no percentage of a failed startup many years from now. Because if he can't raise money, and can't support the growth without money, that is really what we are talking about here.