Comments on: What’s the right amount of seed money to raise? http://cdixon.org/2009/12/28/whats-the-right-amount-of-seed-money-to-raise/ Wed, 08 Sep 2010 12:56:00 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Explaining The European VC Model: You Are Constantly Raising Money « Disruptive Growth http://cdixon.org/2009/12/28/whats-the-right-amount-of-seed-money-to-raise/comment-page-1/#comment-7310 Explaining The European VC Model: You Are Constantly Raising Money « Disruptive Growth Thu, 11 Mar 2010 11:18:29 +0000 http://cdixon.org/?p=2388#comment-7310 [...] 11, 2010 by Peter In general, I agree with cdixon that a startup should raise as much money as possible. However, due to the difference in mentality and capital available, we Europeans might have a [...] [...] 11, 2010 by Peter In general, I agree with cdixon that a startup should raise as much money as possible. However, due to the difference in mentality and capital available, we Europeans might have a [...]

]]> By: Chris Dixon: How much seed money should I raise? « Thundernoise's Blog http://cdixon.org/2009/12/28/whats-the-right-amount-of-seed-money-to-raise/comment-page-1/#comment-7288 Chris Dixon: How much seed money should I raise? « Thundernoise's Blog Tue, 09 Mar 2010 03:57:17 +0000 http://cdixon.org/?p=2388#comment-7288 [...] Dixon: How much seed money should I raise? Chris Dixon, serial entrepreneur and seed-stage investor: “… You should try to answer the question: what is [...] [...] Dixon: How much seed money should I raise? Chris Dixon, serial entrepreneur and seed-stage investor: “… You should try to answer the question: what is [...]

]]> By: Niyi http://cdixon.org/2009/12/28/whats-the-right-amount-of-seed-money-to-raise/comment-page-1/#comment-5729 Niyi Sun, 03 Jan 2010 03:41:49 +0000 http://cdixon.org/?p=2388#comment-5729 @thomaslukasik,<br><br>It took me quite a while to let go of the esteem I used to accord to product development. <br><br>The painful truth that engineers must realise is that without traction, your product is basically nothing. <br><br>On a +ve note, by developing your customer base in parallel with your product , you can kill two birds with one stone. In other words, startups need to "unstealth" themselves. @thomaslukasik,

It took me quite a while to let go of the esteem I used to accord to product development.

The painful truth that engineers must realise is that without traction, your product is basically nothing.

On a +ve note, by developing your customer base in parallel with your product , you can kill two birds with one stone. In other words, startups need to “unstealth” themselves.

]]> By: Niyi http://cdixon.org/2009/12/28/whats-the-right-amount-of-seed-money-to-raise/comment-page-1/#comment-5592 Niyi Sat, 02 Jan 2010 19:41:49 +0000 http://cdixon.org/?p=2388#comment-5592 @thomaslukasik,<br><br>It took me quite a while to let go of the esteem I used to accord to product development. <br><br>The painful truth that engineers must realise is that without traction, your product is basically nothing. <br><br>On a +ve note, by developing your customer base in parallel with your product , you can kill two birds with one stone. In other words, startups need to "unstealth" themselves. @thomaslukasik,

It took me quite a while to let go of the esteem I used to accord to product development.

The painful truth that engineers must realise is that without traction, your product is basically nothing.

On a +ve note, by developing your customer base in parallel with your product , you can kill two birds with one stone. In other words, startups need to “unstealth” themselves.

]]> By: chris dixon http://cdixon.org/2009/12/28/whats-the-right-amount-of-seed-money-to-raise/comment-page-1/#comment-5587 chris dixon Sat, 02 Jan 2010 11:36:51 +0000 http://cdixon.org/?p=2388#comment-5587 Building a product doesn't count for nothing. The problem is it doesn't make your valuation go up, generally because if you've gotten seed funded you already got a valuation that assumed product building competency. So its already baked into the earlier valuation... Building a product doesn't count for nothing. The problem is it doesn't make your valuation go up, generally because if you've gotten seed funded you already got a valuation that assumed product building competency. So its already baked into the earlier valuation…

]]> By: thomaslukasik http://cdixon.org/2009/12/28/whats-the-right-amount-of-seed-money-to-raise/comment-page-1/#comment-5585 thomaslukasik Sat, 02 Jan 2010 04:04:50 +0000 http://cdixon.org/?p=2388#comment-5585 >> "The biggest mistake founders make is thinking that building a product by itself will be perceived as an accretive milestone."<br><br>Although it **seems** counter-intuitive -- after all, if you can't build the product, then that is automatic and absolute FAIL -- this is a hard pill to swallow, especially if your role in a startup makes you directly responsible for getting the product built. <br><br>When you think about 'Chandler' (Millions of dollars and many years spent without even coming close to building the product they set out to build) and 'Duke Nukem Forever' (12 years and many more $ Millions with no product ever materializing) it just seems strange that successfully getting the product built would not count for much, doesn't it?<br><br>TJL >> “The biggest mistake founders make is thinking that building a product by itself will be perceived as an accretive milestone.”

Although it **seems** counter-intuitive — after all, if you can't build the product, then that is automatic and absolute FAIL — this is a hard pill to swallow, especially if your role in a startup makes you directly responsible for getting the product built.

When you think about 'Chandler' (Millions of dollars and many years spent without even coming close to building the product they set out to build) and 'Duke Nukem Forever' (12 years and many more $ Millions with no product ever materializing) it just seems strange that successfully getting the product built would not count for much, doesn't it?

TJL

]]> By: What’s the right amount of seed money to raise? | Igniting Startups - nPost http://cdixon.org/2009/12/28/whats-the-right-amount-of-seed-money-to-raise/comment-page-1/#comment-5577 What’s the right amount of seed money to raise? | Igniting Startups - nPost Fri, 01 Jan 2010 19:20:10 +0000 http://cdixon.org/?p=2388#comment-5577 [...] From cdixon.org [...] [...] From cdixon.org [...]

]]> By: Gary DiGrazia Jr http://cdixon.org/2009/12/28/whats-the-right-amount-of-seed-money-to-raise/comment-page-1/#comment-5492 Gary DiGrazia Jr Wed, 30 Dec 2009 12:58:31 +0000 http://cdixon.org/?p=2388#comment-5492 This post couldn't have came at a better time. Very nice, thanks a million =)<br>-Gary D This post couldn't have came at a better time. Very nice, thanks a million =)
-Gary D

]]> By: marshsutherland http://cdixon.org/2009/12/28/whats-the-right-amount-of-seed-money-to-raise/comment-page-1/#comment-5481 marshsutherland Tue, 29 Dec 2009 20:14:40 +0000 http://cdixon.org/?p=2388#comment-5481 David, whether or not social media marketing is free or not depends on what you define as a cost. SocialGrow is approaching 10,000 Twitter followers and has created excellent brand awareness as an evangelist on the benefits of having a large roster of RELEVANT social networking connections for free. SocialGrow has been published and talked about, and we haven't even release our Alpha yet. Sure, our rockstar CMO Ken Herron is one of the best social media marketers in the world and I've given him a significant share of ownership in our startup, but out of pockets costs for what he has done is zero. <br><br>We don't need to pay consultants like Chris Brogan because we have Ken. We are hoping Chris, another local Bostonian, will evangelize our product as well (or at least mention it) on this blog for free. Given out Ford Focuses and sending people on missions is simply foolish and neither Ken nor I would never approve of such an expense. Reminds me of when my former employer Akibia gave away a Porsche Boxster and then spent $100K on a street party at a Siebel conference and then ended up laying off 30 billable consultants a couple of months later because their $150K showed literally zero ROI.<br><br>Social media marketing can either cost money if choose to...or you can do it for free with excellent results, as we have.<br><br>Chris Dixon's blog post is about Seed funding, not about Series A, B, or C rounds of funding. Trust me, when SocialGrow has a marketing budget for Ken AND a publicly released product, look out for what he will do then marketing-wise. But he's done an awfully good job marketing for us with zero budget and zero finished product. David, whether or not social media marketing is free or not depends on what you define as a cost. SocialGrow is approaching 10,000 Twitter followers and has created excellent brand awareness as an evangelist on the benefits of having a large roster of RELEVANT social networking connections for free. SocialGrow has been published and talked about, and we haven't even release our Alpha yet. Sure, our rockstar CMO Ken Herron is one of the best social media marketers in the world and I've given him a significant share of ownership in our startup, but out of pockets costs for what he has done is zero.

We don't need to pay consultants like Chris Brogan because we have Ken. We are hoping Chris, another local Bostonian, will evangelize our product as well (or at least mention it) on this blog for free. Given out Ford Focuses and sending people on missions is simply foolish and neither Ken nor I would never approve of such an expense. Reminds me of when my former employer Akibia gave away a Porsche Boxster and then spent $100K on a street party at a Siebel conference and then ended up laying off 30 billable consultants a couple of months later because their $150K showed literally zero ROI.

Social media marketing can either cost money if choose to…or you can do it for free with excellent results, as we have.

Chris Dixon's blog post is about Seed funding, not about Series A, B, or C rounds of funding. Trust me, when SocialGrow has a marketing budget for Ken AND a publicly released product, look out for what he will do then marketing-wise. But he's done an awfully good job marketing for us with zero budget and zero finished product.

]]> By: Tweets that mention What’s the right amount of seed money to raise? cdixon.org – chris dixon's blog -- Topsy.com http://cdixon.org/2009/12/28/whats-the-right-amount-of-seed-money-to-raise/comment-page-1/#comment-5474 Tweets that mention What’s the right amount of seed money to raise? cdixon.org – chris dixon's blog -- Topsy.com Tue, 29 Dec 2009 19:38:15 +0000 http://cdixon.org/?p=2388#comment-5474 [...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Venture Hacks, Chris McCann. Chris McCann said: "I gave up 50%+ of SiteAdvisor to investors in the 1st round but in the long run was happy for it" @cdixon @venturehacks http://j.mp/5bgeRq [...] [...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Venture Hacks, Chris McCann. Chris McCann said: "I gave up 50%+ of SiteAdvisor to investors in the 1st round but in the long run was happy for it" @cdixon @venturehacks http://j.mp/5bgeRq [...]

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