But usually there is more than one way to skin a cat (horrible thought — I like cats!).

An alternative: Pick a business that can make you wealthy and that you can bring to nice profitability with just your own labor and own checkbook. Do that.

Part of that will likely be to get some publicity, from a little to a lot, for your business. Then, from that publicity, eventually the venture firms will notice your company.

There they will want to see that the business is profitable, growing rapidly, is serving a potentially huge market, and has good ways to beat existing or future competition. By “huge”, the business stands to be worth $100+ million although $100+ billion is more like it.

Don’t call them. Wait for them to call you.

But, realize that early on, they never saw any potential in your business. Moreover, they still don’t understand your business. And they never really will understand your business. Sure, they might understand a front yard, neighborhood lemonade stand, but that won’t be worth $100+ billion. A genuinely new business, they won’t understand.

So, if you take equity funding from them, then, unless you have some darned good lawyers on your side and the equity investors are desperate to invest, your business will become a Delaware C-corp, with a BoD, with equity investors on the Board, with you as founding CEO reporting to the Board, where the Board doesn’t understand your business, where some or all of the Board members have financial interests and maybe even fiduciary responsibilities that conflict with your financial interests and those of your business, where the day before you take their money you own 100% of the business and as soon as you sign you suddenly own 0% of your business with some chance of getting back to maybe 40% over a four year vesting schedule during which time the Board can fire you and keep your stock not vested and put you in a bad situation for your vested stock, all for any reason or no reason. In principle, they day after you sign, they can kick you out with nothing and take all your company, its intellectual property, the company bank account, etc.

Lots of successful businesses never took equity funding. Just why would you want to take equity funding?

.
The Boss is heading down to Galveston for dogs and some flesh eating bacteria. Something tells me he’s going to be hanging at the pool. Happy 4th of July. I have black carpet.

BRC
http://www.themusingsofthebigredcar.com

Not sure what the boss( a fine and wise elder) was thinking smothering you under that cover. I’ll take you out for a drive…. Dont worry I brought my spittoon with me so I won’t piss off the boss by letting my chawski dribble out over my front lip and stain the seats.

Ohhhh baby great ride you are BRC a classic!! I’ll cover you back up now so the boss doesn’t find out about our joyride.

It’s a high here of about 107F today, it will be a delicious dog and burger tomorrow.

http://themusingsofthebigredcar.com/entrepreneurial-storytelling-2/

Learn how to tell the entrepreneurial story of your company and you. Read this.

BRC
http://www.themusingsofthebigredcar.com