Disqus - Latest Comments for dcornish

Re: Whales Not Unicorns

Dan Cornish — Mon, 15 Jul 2019 07:27:32 -0000

This is just another example of a Pareto distribution. All inequality stems from this mathematical fact.

Re: Founder Friendly

Dan Cornish — Mon, 14 Aug 2017 00:13:03 -0000

People only do what is in their self interest. Humans are hard wired for this. Even seemingly altrusistic things such as charity are in the end motivated by self interest. Nothing feels better than giving money (or equivalent) to someone who needs it and is grateful for it.

A founder is much better off realizing that investors invest for their own self interest and no other reason. When someone says they care about what is best for the company, the real translation is they care about what is best for their investment in the company. Founder friendly is just marketing bullshit. An investor who is mature and experienced who will not panic at the first sign of trouble, is what founders should look for because they realize that panic is not in their own self interest. But always remember, there are a million variables and most VCs are always thinking about replacing the founder wether they say it or not.

I also have to call out Fred. When he says that he always will do what is right for the company, he is avoiding taking responsibility for his actions. Own it.

Re: Should Your Company Be Profitable?

Dan Cornish — Mon, 19 Jun 2017 08:56:46 -0000

Yes there are companies that are very profitable in the CRM space. You just never hear about them in the Tech press. They do not have to impress the investor class, just their customers.

Re: The Journey From $1m MRR to $2m MRR

Dan Cornish — Fri, 12 May 2017 12:43:25 -0000

I would add that in a bootstrapped company, product market fit can be established at a lower revenue level because the sales in the beginning are growing at a slower rate. Bootstrapped companies sales do not grow at the same rate until later >$500K mrr.

Re: SaaS Economics – Part 2: Scaling the Business

Dan Cornish — Sun, 02 Apr 2017 23:48:13 -0000

David, After some more years in learning about this, how does this model standup to the test of time? Have you seen this work in your portfolio companies and what would you change now in this model?

Thanks

Re: How to Avoid “Captive” Company Counsel

Dan Cornish — Thu, 05 Jan 2017 06:34:19 -0000

I would say to a founder that if an investor says "use my guy" then the founder should refuse the money and find another investor. This is a very bad sign that they are already aligned against you and it will never get any better.

Re: FLASHBACK: ‘Hamilton’ Cast Lectures VP-Elect on ‘Diversity,’ But Issued ‘Whites Need Not Apply’ Casting Call

Dan Cornish — Sat, 19 Nov 2016 18:50:02 -0000

http://www.bloomberg.com/po...

Re: FLASHBACK: ‘Hamilton’ Cast Lectures VP-Elect on ‘Diversity,’ But Issued ‘Whites Need Not Apply’ Casting Call

Dan Cornish — Sat, 19 Nov 2016 18:47:56 -0000

Broadway theater has a special tax cut which is up for renewal this year. Contact your Representitives and Senators. Why do Liberal New Yorkers who criticize the Vice President deserve a special tax cut that the rest of us do not get.

Re: Dear Fred

Dan Cornish — Tue, 19 Jul 2016 07:00:00 -0000

Hi Fred, The investor has become the proxy for the market in the eyes of many. Your point today really highlights this.

My rant this morning is against the cult of the investor. An investor should be the last person someone should talk to, not the first. If you have passion, build a product because if feeds your passion for something. Who cares if people buy it, just do it because it gives you great pleasure. If you figure out a way to make money with your passion, then it is even better.
Or
If you see a problem or something which needs to be built, then build it and solve the problem. Ask people if they will pay money for your solution. If they do then do more. Only talk to investors if what you are building needs truck loads of money. Very few companies really need investor money if you have innovated a product and innovated a way to sell it.

Investors demand a very high price in freedom, equity, control and partnership risk for the money they invest. Customers only demand a great product that solves an important problem. Building a company is like Pokemon Go. Get out of your comfort zone out and capture some customers first, get to level 5, become an experienced trainer and then talk to investors.

Re: Lions & Lambs in the “Post Unicorn” Era

Dan Cornish — Fri, 22 Apr 2016 12:00:00 -0000

A Lamb who is not eaten, but learns how to survive may grow into a Ram which will beat the shit out of all the rest of the lambs and can protect itself the in the jungle.

Re: Orphaned Investments

Dan Cornish — Sat, 20 Feb 2016 03:37:48 -0000

I was just thinking about this exact same issue with customer churn. Same thing. In the enterprise software world if your advocate in your customer company leaves the company, the chances of customer churn are high if the application has not been fully implemented into the company. And even then if your application is only important to a few people, if you advocate leaves you become an orphan. The lesson here is to always be engaged with your audience, be it VCs or customers. When either one doesn't care about your company anymore, it is a new sale all over again.

Re: What will the next few years be like for angel investors?

Dan Cornish — Tue, 12 Jan 2016 21:58:05 -0000

Angels and investors need to look at new models of investing recognizing the new reality. Many companies will only need small amount of capital to help with growth. If a company is profitable and only needs 20% of current revenue to hire more sales people,then a large check for equity will not be the right move. Perhaps revenue share, loans, royalties and other more traditional ways of getting a return will become more acceptable to traditional angels.

For instance, a $250,000 investment for three years at 20% per year paid back thru recurring revenue is a very nice investment. It is not a 3X, but then you do not need as many unicorns.

As for your worry "what's let to build" remember all of the folks who predicted there was nothing let to invent.
(From Wikipedia's article 'Charles Holland Duell').
Law Professor Dennis Crouch has pointed out that an 1899 issue of the humor magazine Punch offered a look at 'the coming century,' in which a genius asked a boy, 'Isn't there a clerk who can examine patents?' The boy replied, 'Quite unnecessary, Sir. Everything that can be invented has been invented.'

Re: You don’t have what it takes

Dan Cornish — Mon, 21 Sep 2015 21:07:28 -0000

I think we should take this one more step. You do not have what it takes if you need investor's capital to start or grow a company. Bootstrapping a company, like Cortez who burned his ships, is what real commitment is all about. If you need investors capital you just do not want to work hard enough to live on what you kill. 100% ownership of a $100M company is the same as 10% ownership of a Billion unicorn except the smaller company offers much more freedom, no partnership risk and is a lot more fun.

Re: Giving up the ghost early

Dan Cornish — Thu, 30 Jul 2015 10:27:56 -0000

The only way to do a start up is what I call the Cortes Strategy. Start your business, go ashore and then burn the ships so you only have one direction to go. Forward. If you have no choice but to make it work, then you will figure out how to make it work.

Re: The Angel VC: Five ways to build a $100 million business

Dan Cornish — Tue, 07 Oct 2014 00:03:22 -0000

Great Blog Post! When scaling a market, the trick is to get the percentage of the market who will actually but correct. Do yo have any metrics which can help predict this? For instance is there are 100,000 potential companies in your market and a SaaS company has x% market penetration do you guess 1% or 10% of the market as customers when projecting a business?

Re: On bootstrapping

Dan Cornish — Tue, 30 Sep 2014 20:57:34 -0000

if you get outside the startup hotbeds, these sorts of questions do not get asked. There are lots of high quality people in places like Pittsburgh, Kansas City, Dallas and so on.

Re: A Quick & Easy Compensation Calculator for Outbound Lead Generation

Dan Cornish — Sat, 08 Jun 2013 08:51:30 -0000

Please send me the Excel template. This is a great article.

Re: Background Checks

Dan Cornish — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 06:26:38 -0000

I think that once background checks for guns is passed, there will need to be background checks for many other things which can cause death and chaos. Bloggers who can incite violence should be denied access to the internet where their poison can kill many people. The harm child pornographers cause is incalculable. The only way to stop this carnage this is for all bloggers to submit to background checks. Does this sound ridiculous? What if after a concerted campaign by a new president and a compliant media the majority of people are convinced that they should support background checks for bloggers? Then should a law be passed because a majority of people support it? The other argument is "it" (permission to blog thru background checks) could never happen here, we have freedom of speech. All I have to say is be very careful for what you wish. For all the geeks here remember "So this is how liberty dies... with thunderous applause."

Re: Data, Transparency, and Regulationce

Dan Cornish — Mon, 25 Mar 2013 11:39:00 -0000

It starts with 50%, but Doctors will collect 100% so they do not get in trouble and to make book keeping easier. This is one example of the "nudge" philosophy. The politicians can "claim" it is not required, but we all know the government will get data on everyone. And once they have the data, and since they are paying the bills, they can require anything they want "for the common good"

Re: Data, Transparency, and Regulationce

Dan Cornish — Sun, 24 Mar 2013 14:52:36 -0000

Here is some more data the angels in government will get to use.
"Starting in 2014, per the dictates of the federal government, your doctor must record your body mass index (BMI), which measures whether you are overweight, each time he or she treats you and turn it over to the government via your electronic health record, which every patient is required to have. Your BMI will then be tracked by the Health and Human Services Department, the agency rolling out ObamaCare, and a bevy of other state and federal agencies.
Read more: http://www.americanthinker....

Re: Data, Transparency, and Regulationce

Dan Cornish — Sun, 24 Mar 2013 11:27:25 -0000

Bloomberg is an angel, so he would never do anything bad with the data he collects. Everyone who worries about the government over reaching and using data to punish and nudge is wrong. I know throughout history the default state of government is tyranny, but this time it is different.

Re: Even at 2.3%, sequester cuts can cause some pain

Dan Cornish — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 05:51:49 -0000

The only thing the sequester show is how bad the Democrats are at being managers. If they have to do all of these bad things with a 2% cut, then why should we trust any of them with our money. I say vote out all of the politicians who can't manage a small budget cut. It proves they are incompetent.

Re: Venture Capital Returns

Dan Cornish — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 10:53:26 -0000

There are two types of VCs. Hobbyists and Bankers. Now hobbyist has a bad connotation but I think it is far better, and what I mean by it is that they invest in companies because they LOVE investing in companies. They know no other way to live and could not work in any other industry. All of their life is focused on starting and building companies. They enjoy being around founders and actually socialize with them. They have figured out how to get other people to fund them, because the people who love what they do are usually very good at what ever they choose to do.

The other group is bankers. These folks are only interested in transactions. They really do not belong in early stage investing at all, and the ones who do get involved are the VCs who give VCs the bad rap. Bankers are really boring people and few founders would want to hang out with them.

The hobbyists are few and far between, but I bet they have the largest returns by a long shot. Just a gut feel, I could be wrong, but loving what you do is the path to a happy life. Bringing on investors sets a company on a path that is different than the path before the investment. I would much prefer being on a path with someone who enjoys what they do. The money is just the applause for a job well done.

Re: Sandy Hook Promise and Tech Activism

Dan Cornish — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 16:34:27 -0000

Mark, You just lost me. Up until now I thought you could think rationally and not emotionally. The simple way to reduce these kinds of mass shooting is to revamp our mental health system. If you really want to reduce violence, then be honest and promote a law to remove all handguns which are used in the vast majority of crimes, or ban clubs and hammers which are responsible for far more deaths than "assault weapons."

How about all politicians give up their heavily armed body guards first. They should lead by example. Also they should send their children to schools where there are no armed guards. Hypocrisy drives me nuts.

Re: How Yammer Turned Being Small into a Big Competitive Advantage

Dan Cornish — Sat, 05 Jan 2013 10:56:50 -0000

Now that Yammer has been consumed by a much larger company, as is usually the case, the laser like focus on the customer will be subsumed by the larger corporate goals of Microsoft. Therefore all sorts of great new competitive opportunities are opened up every time a company is acquired. When Hotmail was acquired by MS, all sorts of great new opportunities were created which then lead to Gmail. Who uses Hotmail these days?