Wealth Soft skills & moving up in the world

[zimbabwe_mike]

There's a surprising amount of overlap between the advice you'll read here & what you need to move up the ladder in the business world. (OK, mabye surprising to me only ... as a n00b.) But seriously, one of the biggest names in the start-up world (Paul Graham, founder of YCombinator) has a ton of advice that won't be new to you if you've read Chase's articles for a while:

http://www.paulgraham.com/fr.html
http://www.paulgraham.com/guidetoinvestors.html
http://www.paulgraham.com/startupfunding.html

Choice quotes:

Abundance mentality:

There are many analogies between fundraising and dating, and this is one of the strongest. No one wants you if you seem desperate. And the best way not to seem desperate is not to be desperate. Though it sounds slightly paradoxical, if you want to raise money, the best thing you can do is get yourself to the point where you don't need to.

Results, not reactions:

Founders are often competitive people, and since valuation is usually the only visible number attached to a startup, they end up competing to raise money at the highest valuation. This is stupid, because fundraising is not the test that matters. The real test is revenue.

Phone numbers aren't where it's at, you gotta seal the deal:

Never leave a meeting with an investor without asking what happens next.

It's is a numbers game. Don't over-invest, just let the flaky ones go:

Doing breadth-first search weighted by expected value will save you from investors who never explicitly say no but merely drift away, because you'll drift away from them at the same rate. It protects you from investors who flake in much the same way that a distributed algorithm protects you from processors that fail. If some investor isn't returning your emails, or wants to have lots of meetings but isn't progressing toward making you an offer, you automatically focus less on them.

Pre-selection is key:

The biggest factor in most investors' opinions of you is the opinion of other investors.

There's a window of opportunity:

Some investors will try to prevent others from having time to decide by giving you an "exploding" offer, meaning one that's only valid for a few days.

If dating is the most interesting thing in your life, your life isn't interesting enough. Go get a hobby.

Don't get addicted to fundraising and don't neglect your core business.

The friendzone is real:

Investors will deliberately affect more interest than they have to preserve optionality. If an investor seems very interested in you, they still probably won't invest. The solution for this is to assume the worst — that an investor is just feigning interest — until you get a definite commitment.

This is really what it boils down to: women are more selective, so they have the power in the market. You can either accept the terms or not play the game:

At this point for me, rejection still rankles but I've come to accept that investors are just not super thoughtful for the most part and you need to play the game according to certain somewhat depressing rules (many of which you are listing) in order to win.

Venture capitalists (ie, investors) are basically highschool girls:

In this case the exploding termsheet was not (or not only) a tactic to pressure the startup. It was more like the high school trick of breaking up with someone before they can break up with you. In an earlier essay I said that VCs were a lot like high school girls. A few VCs have joked about that characterization, but none have disputed it.

Buyer's remorse is real:

It's not uncommon for investors and acquirers to get buyer's remorse. So you have to keep pushing, keep selling, all the way to the close.

Girls (I mean, investors) want to chase:

A lot of founders approach investors as if they needed their permission to start a company—as if it were like getting into college. But you don't need investors to start most companies; they just make it easier. And in fact, investors greatly prefer it if you don't need them. What excites them, both consciously and unconsciously, is the sort of startup that approaches them saying "the train's leaving the station; are you in or out?" not the one saying "please can we have some money to start a company?

OK, this one is just... yah know...

Most investors are "bottoms" in the sense that the startups they like most are those that are rough with them."

Angel in this context refers to early investors in a particular company, VC to later investors, fyi:

In the real world, VCs regard angels the way a jealous husband feels about his wife's previous boyfriends. To them the company didn't exist before they invested in it.

Buyer's remorse again, and a little insight into why it happens:

People about to fund or acquire a startup are prone to wicked cases of buyer's remorse. They don't really grasp the risk they're taking till the deal's about to close. And then they panic.

Anyway, this forum is good for more than it's advertised for! Cheers!

 

[HoofHearted]

I like this, and to some extent it's true.

I only like it in the context of entrepreneurship (sp) or personal projects though.

Grinding hard up a corporate ladder's most important lesson is not to do it. A lot of guys punch in the hours, the drivenness at work, and then eventually it reaches a point where they ask "why am I working this hard for somebody else" and that is a beautiful moment. The rest is for suckahs and self flagellating sociopaths, who like the pain and want others to experience it with them.

My opinion is that the winner's mindset would be deliver value and get what's yours in what you choose to do. Some things in life are zero sum, but there are enough girls and enough money for everybody, if you go get them for yourself in the way you want to get them. Plus, if you get good enough at it, you can even share! But sharing can be the hardest part, since I have personally seen too many guys not able to walk through an open door, usually because of their minds, or their fears.

People sometimes see me do what I do and are impressed or wonder how. I try to tell them they could, too! But they scoff at me with the "I could never." Oh yes you could. A lot is luck, but fuck, just walk forward!

But instead they run back to companies and dream of someday. Middle management for you, my friend (how could you even dream of this?).

Tldr I liked the post, only in the context of doing your own thing with money and women and daily reminder

These hoes and this cash be for errbody

 

[TomInHo]

It's funny because a lot of people forget that girls are people too.

Seduction = Influence = Social Skills