"Bootstrap or Die - Lessons Learned From a Web Startup's Murder/Suicide

http://bootstrappy.blogspot.com/2010/02/bootstrap-or-die-lessons-learned-from.html

by chris123 • 16 years ago

9 7 16 years ago

bootstrappy.blogspot.com

chris1235• 16 years ago

Here's the premise: Taking that VC money is a root cause of most/all of the "Deadly Mistakes" Rob and Josh made with EventVue (read their post-mortem here: http://blog.eventvue.com/post/372936164/post-mortem and the TechCrunch article here: http://www.techcrunch.com/2010/02/05/eventvue-deadpool/). There are some updates and clarifications there, too, based on comments from Josh of EventVue. Thanks, Josh.

Whatever you think about that premise, hopefully you'll agree that it's not a bad idea to stop, think, and discuss before you make an irreversible, and potentially fatal, decision.

MrHyde• 16 years ago

And the weakness of the premise can be seen in "Update: Josh of EventVue clarified that they raised angel money, not VC money."

chris1235• 16 years ago

Thanks for the comment, but it's a red herring (http://www.fallacyfiles.org/redherrf.html). Whether the money comes from an angel or a VC or a bank or China or your dad, you still need to stop, think, and discuss before you do choose to take outside financing, under what terms, from whom, when, and why (three times). That's the point :)

brettbender• 16 years ago

Is anybody else frequently bothered by this type of voice in blogs? If you are going to go out of your way to research all these points and write ten thousand words about them, please don't finish it off by telling me I might be ass-fucked. It's not a "firm slap in the face," it's a simple vulgarity that makes you appear incapable of using expressive language. It seems inappropriate for the type of blog the author seems to be trying to write. Most confusing moment: using asterisks in ass-fucking. You either think it's appropriate to use or you don't, don't use it and simultaneously censor yourself.

chris1235• 16 years ago

Thanks for the comment and sorry if my writing style's not to your liking. My post was not written to hurt anyone, quite the opposite. I have my own writing style, yes. It's not for everyone, yes. But you don't need to come here and try to organize a mob against, to try to force me to conform to your joy-sucking rules.

It's your choice and your right not to accept people who are different from yourself. God knows half of America is full of rabid, Jesus-loving attack dogs who try to force their beliefs on the rest of us. If you don't mind, however, could you please try to suffer in silence and keep your crying, bitching, and trolling to yourself. Thanks :)

BTW, if you don't like words like "ass" and "fuck" and all the rest of those naughty words that cause you cry out and try to rally a mob for a witch hunt, you might want to avoid blogs such as "500 Hats" by Dave McClure. Here's Dave's bio: http://500hats.typepad.com/500blogs/about-dave-mcclure.html here's one of his posts: http://500hats.typepad.com/500blogs/2006/11/why_you_want_yo.... and here's every post he's written with the words "ass" or "fuck" in it: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&source=hp&q=ass+o... Can you still see, or did all those naughty words blind you?

Better stay away from TechCrunch, too. That Arrington has a mouth on him! Of course, it's nothing like that Zed Shaw. Hehe, I love those guys. You know, what really burns me up, though, is little people who use words like "shit" and "fuck." Who do they think they are! We gotta teach them a lesson, don't we. We gotta stomp them back down where they belong. After all, only "important" people are allowed to use "bad" words.

Oh shit, better not read any William Shakespeare, either: http://socyberty.com/education/evolution-of-profanity-how-sw...

Damn, or watch award-winning movies, such as "Pulp Fiction," "Mystic River," "The Departed," etc. Or any of those award-winning HBO shows, such as "Sopranos," "Deadwood," "Entourage," "The Wire," etc.

Fuck, fuck, fuck, what's left for you?! Well, at least you've still got your Fox news, church, and tea party friends, right? Speaking of which, where you at the rally? I heard Palin's speech was great! She's so smart and wholesome and funny and right. I love her! She's got my vote in 2012, I've had about all the "hopey changey" stuff I can handle outta that Obama guy!

Do you now see how ridiculous your attack was, Brett? And do your employers and university (Amazon.com, Trilogy, LiquidPlanner, and Yale, if this is you: http://www.linkedin.com/in/brettbender) know you're harassing people on Hacker News when you should be working and making them look good? In both cases, probably not, but I'm not going to argue. Life's too short to waste time with miserable people. Good luck. Seriously.

Cheers!

PS: I took out the asterisks and did some polishing and now the post is making the rounds all over again. Thks.

chris1235• 16 years ago

Interesting and, at least somewhat, related post today (2/14) over on TechCrunch: "TED Organizer Trashes Speaker, Fails Social IQ Test": http://techcrunch.com/2010/02/14/ted-organizer-trashes-speak...

chris1235• 16 years ago

Another interesting and, at least somewhat, related article. This time it's from the Washington Post (14 Feb. 2010): "The case against banning the word 'retard'" http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02...

"Bootstrap or Die - Lessons Learned From a Web Startup's Murder/Suicide

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