Canadabased London 856m 3.1bgopinathbloomberg
Canadabased London 856m 3.1bgopinathbloomberg: It is understandable that Balaji Srinivasan and A16z partners demonstrated recently that they, too, can tweet (albeit not 140 characters deep). But I’m going to throw it back at them. Why don’t they do more than tweet if they’re so good with all their billions of dollars in venture capital funding? What new products are they announcing or selling? Typically, they buy a company, announce it to the world, then wait a year or so before they flip it. There’s no question why they do this. It’s easy, quick money, especially if you’re using other people’s money (OPM). But what about real entrepreneurs?
It is the guys with no venture capital funding who are doing it all from their own savings. I am sure A16z would say that they have financed many companies. A16z doesn’t have all the answers, but I would hope they would not sit on their portfolio and hope for the best.
This has been the topic of an interesting discussion with Jody Shimmin over at VCGolf. In his blog, Fintech People, Jody writes about how venture capitalists use Twitter (and other social media) to their advantage. He has asked me to comment on the intertwinement of social media and business.
It turns out I’m a real entrepreneur, and I’ve self-funded my company for many years now with the help of family and friends, or the kindness of strangers, which can be just as rewarding.
I started my first company when I was 13 years old and have been an entrepreneur ever since. But I’m feeling the pressure of being a business person in 2014. I’ve been awake at all hours of the night, struggling with my thoughts.
All you need is a good idea, one that others haven’t thought of yet (and they won’t). People will pay you to create what they’re looking for; it’s magic if you just do it your way.
However, business is not always as straightforward as it sounds. It takes more time and effort than you think and is more than just an idea. To succeed in business, you need to think carefully about your plan, get a lot of help, and get a lot of advice (and reality checks). You need to hire people, find partners, and secure funding.
Would you be surprised if I said that all of this was unnecessary, that anyone could achieve anything without money? Yes, it is possible. If Twitter was threatened, many people would start tweeting immediately. Anyone can tweet.
Just keep working at it and you’ll succeed. And if you build something that people want, you won’t have any trouble finding funding if you need it.
Many of my readers won’t like this. They’ll tell me that I’m stupid and can’t do anything, and I should be a software engineer who only builds software. They’ll say people like me “stink” at businesses.
Developing great companies does not require venture funding. In fact, we should get rid of the term altogether.
