The most interesting statistic from the “Do you have moola in the cooler for new investments” was a staggering 35% were either raising a new fund or only had follow-on cash. Yet, as this is not public information they still take calls with founders to be in the market and gather intelligence, no shame in wasting founders' time, just spin it as good experience and put me on your mailing list.
I feel silly asking this (as though I need permission to ask a question) but I'm curious if that's something a founder can/should ask up front? Or just take the call and charge it to the game in a matter of speaking.
Not silly at all, not by a long shot. I feel because of the rules of the game have been written by the providers of cash that 1. Founders feel they can’t ask for fear of coming across as acting in some sort of bad faith. 2. Founders don’t know to ask.
I would more liken this to any market that has a limited supply of a high value resource that you want. How do you go about obtaining it ? Would you just go to every seller on the off chance they had it (knowing lots of people are after it) or would you research it and make sure the suppliers had it in stock before spending your most valuable commodity of time?
Of course this is dressed up as awareness, as practice etc but if they can’t invest then what is the value they can offer and do they care ?
"You have the real adventure capitalists, they have such a strong view of the future and understand what is required to join the dots to get there. They might be wrong, they might be right in the long term, but they have 100% commitment to their view."
In your experience, do they self-identify as such? Or do I need to become a canyoneer to make their acquaintance? #canyonsarethenewgolfcourse
Yes they do but the problems is it is the elite status so everyone else tries to identify this way as well. You can work out who they are by seeing where they are in an investment cycle of a new technology trend.
I quickly concluded that to wear a mentoring badge you didn’t have to qualify or have any experience as a Founder or Investor. To fulfil the desired needs of attraction through big numbers and shiny objects all that is required is the ability to regurgitate quotes from Zero to One, The Hard Thing About Hard Things and become a specialist on what Y-combinator says. <--- Ooof. Felt the reality of being on the receiving end of this. Thanks for saying this out loud.
The processes were not well enough implemented to manage the consistency required. Building marketing and sales with all the comms required takes a lot of effort and understanding. The key is having a flywheel the feeds itself but the breakdown happens when part of the flywheel stops working. We didn’t have the resource to deal with it so it became putting out fires and losing momentum.
We pushed out newsletters and online marketing campaigns, made partnerships with associations, incubators, and accelerators and managed to get some consistency, but looking back we were limited in time to have any efficiency. <--- what do you mean by the last bit, 'limited in time to have any efficiency' ? TIA
A grim, but thoroughly interesting read Derek! Many lessons to learn from your experiences in building N2 and it is very kind of you to share your valuable analysis. Wishing you all the best in your next venture!
The most interesting statistic from the “Do you have moola in the cooler for new investments” was a staggering 35% were either raising a new fund or only had follow-on cash. Yet, as this is not public information they still take calls with founders to be in the market and gather intelligence, no shame in wasting founders' time, just spin it as good experience and put me on your mailing list.
I feel silly asking this (as though I need permission to ask a question) but I'm curious if that's something a founder can/should ask up front? Or just take the call and charge it to the game in a matter of speaking.
Not silly at all, not by a long shot. I feel because of the rules of the game have been written by the providers of cash that 1. Founders feel they can’t ask for fear of coming across as acting in some sort of bad faith. 2. Founders don’t know to ask.
I would more liken this to any market that has a limited supply of a high value resource that you want. How do you go about obtaining it ? Would you just go to every seller on the off chance they had it (knowing lots of people are after it) or would you research it and make sure the suppliers had it in stock before spending your most valuable commodity of time?
Of course this is dressed up as awareness, as practice etc but if they can’t invest then what is the value they can offer and do they care ?
"You have the real adventure capitalists, they have such a strong view of the future and understand what is required to join the dots to get there. They might be wrong, they might be right in the long term, but they have 100% commitment to their view."
In your experience, do they self-identify as such? Or do I need to become a canyoneer to make their acquaintance? #canyonsarethenewgolfcourse
Yes they do but the problems is it is the elite status so everyone else tries to identify this way as well. You can work out who they are by seeing where they are in an investment cycle of a new technology trend.
I quickly concluded that to wear a mentoring badge you didn’t have to qualify or have any experience as a Founder or Investor. To fulfil the desired needs of attraction through big numbers and shiny objects all that is required is the ability to regurgitate quotes from Zero to One, The Hard Thing About Hard Things and become a specialist on what Y-combinator says. <--- Ooof. Felt the reality of being on the receiving end of this. Thanks for saying this out loud.
The processes were not well enough implemented to manage the consistency required. Building marketing and sales with all the comms required takes a lot of effort and understanding. The key is having a flywheel the feeds itself but the breakdown happens when part of the flywheel stops working. We didn’t have the resource to deal with it so it became putting out fires and losing momentum.
There is a misalignment between doing it cause you know and doing it for your own social capital
We pushed out newsletters and online marketing campaigns, made partnerships with associations, incubators, and accelerators and managed to get some consistency, but looking back we were limited in time to have any efficiency. <--- what do you mean by the last bit, 'limited in time to have any efficiency' ? TIA
Fantastic write up - read cover to cover. Really appreciate the thought and craft put into this.
Many thanks Benjamin, Always helps me to get things down and out, so if others enjoy / benefit that is just a massive bonus.
Fantastic write up - read cover to cover. Really appreciate the thought and craft put into this.
A grim, but thoroughly interesting read Derek! Many lessons to learn from your experiences in building N2 and it is very kind of you to share your valuable analysis. Wishing you all the best in your next venture!
Many thanks …. Not meant to be grim hahahah