Start-up founders and repeat entrepreneurs often define themselves by stating how much money they raised. That’s great, but what about the sustainable value you actually created?
In the start-up ecosystem one encounters very often founders launching new ventures and boasting about how they previously managed to raise millions on earlier ventures. And that’s about the only way they define themselves. This of course proves that they are excellent sellers for their ideas and at least that they have experience in this part of the start-up adventure. But what about building a sustainable business?
If someone presents himself thus, I will certainly assume that all their previous ventures have been failures, and that they are good at raising and spending money, but with little result in terms of sustainable value. Founders that boast how much they sold a previous venture are better in that they demonstrate their ability to create something valuable and to be able to exit, which is far more reassuring.
Really, we don’t care how much you raised in your previous ventures. What we care about is if you spent the money wisely to build something durable and sustainable. Stop boasting about how much money you raised!
This is a short series of posts where I want to share some thoughts from my experience as a Business Angel with now about 15 investments over the last 5 years, and review of 100s of start-up pitches per year. Previous posts include ‘How Early Start-Up Valuation is too Often too High‘.
