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Startups and the Big Lie

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mouser:
Often it feels to me like economic success is one big pyramid scheme... Here's an article about the central role lying plays in the startup model where companies raise billions based on a mirage of get-rich-quick success they create.

They have little choice. Funding is contingent on growth, but that growth can only happen if no one really understands the funding situation. Founders have to tell the lie – that everything is fine, that a feature is going to launch even though the engineer for that feature hasn’t been hired yet, that payroll will run even though the VC dollars are still nowhere on the horizon.

Lying is a requisite and daily part of being a founder, the grease that keeps the startup flywheel running.

--- End quote ---


http://techcrunch.com/2015/07/25/startups-and-the-big-lie/




from slashdot.org

Contro:
 ;D

Give them food then.
I read a novel about gold fever in California. If you want get rich put a restaurant.

Our era is a terrorific story about lies.

Perhaps the best business is teaching other good business. And if for some reason the thing goes wrong at least you have no risks.

 ;D

wraith808:
Often it feels to me like economic success is one big pyramid scheme... Here's an article about the central role lying plays in the startup model where companies raise billions based on a mirage of get-rich-quick success they create.
-mouser (August 02, 2015, 12:02 AM)
--- End quote ---

Money begets money.  That's a seminal truth.  I would agree to you that it's as corrupt as you make it out to be- if not for one thing.  Haven't been in that situation, it's expected.  When we were doing it, we cut to the bone, and asked for only what we needed to get going.  And found that what someone had told us was true- scale matters.  If you ask for only a little money, they expect you to fail, and expect that the idea isn't worthy of consideration.  It's a system that those that you are asking for money made.  You're playing by their rules.  And their rules require you to lie.

40hz:
;D

Give them food then.
I read a novel about gold fever in California. If you want get rich put a restaurant.

Our era is a terrorific story about lies.

Perhaps the best business is teaching other good business. And if for some reason the thing goes wrong at least you have no risks.

 
-Contro (August 24, 2015, 06:14 PM)
--- End quote ---

Could well be true.

One thing for sure...all those companies that served the needs of startups back in the 90s (Dell, OfficeMax, Staples, Kinkos, Steelcase, etc.) made far more money selling those young hopefuls equipment and business services than the vast majority of those startups ever made with their own businesses.

There's a lesson there. A bride brings home a husband. A bridesmaid, 20 offers from hopeful suitors for a date. Do the math... ;)

If I were to ever start another new business, it would be a bank.

xtabber:
...all those companies that served the needs of startups back in the 90s (Dell, OfficeMax, Staples, Kinkos, Steelcase, etc.).
-40hz (August 25, 2015, 01:06 PM)
--- End quote ---

Dell?  Dell was started (as PC's Limited) in 1984, changed its name to Dell in 1987 and went public in 1988. It didn't really become a major player itself until the early 90's.

And if any company illustrates the need to lie to grow a startup, it's Dell.

In the mid to late 80s, when tech publications ran regular comparisons of personal computers, PC's Limited systems could only be ordered direct from Michael Dell, and he made sure they got hand tuned souped up systems that outperformed the off-the shelf systems they got from major manufacturers.  As a result, Dell's PCs won every benchmark for a while (until the other companies wised up) and became the standard others were judged by.  But unless you worked for PC Magazine or PC World, you could not get a system from Dell that performed like that.

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