If you’re curious what several billion dollars looks like, then look no further than these photos.
This is the cumulative wealth of all the guys in this party. This is what you call a nerd party. A typical Digerati get-together of visionaries in Silicon Valley discussing the trends in technology, their latest startups and who got what funding. This party, held yesterday somewhere in Los Altos, California, saw the likes of the CEO of Wikia, a Senior Director at Photobucket, a bunch of guys from WellNet (one was the former head of WebMD), and the CEO of Xfire, which just got sold for $200 million. Michael Arrington from TechCrunch was a no-show unfortunately, even though he did show up in previous Digerati bbqs past. Rats, I would have wanted to paparazzi that guy somehow.
If you really want to know how to get rich around here, the best way is to make buddies like these. I’ve seen some really misguided ideas make it, with big money behind it. I’ve seen very good ideas die a sorry death for people with no track record except for the prototypes they carry around in used laptops. To begin the journey towards startup success, you need to recognize that speaking English gives you a leg up on some others who only have their machine talk for them. And if you’re going to make an impression, you need at least 3 people: the technical guy, the visionary and the marketing guy. It also works if you have all three hats on less than three bodies, as long as the heads are fairly competent and the hats fit.
Now the only real hard part is to get through that first challenging startup cycle. Some have been very lucky by joining the right startup at the right time and won the lottery. Some have been even luckier by doing this several times over. But for the typical entrepreneurial soul in Silicon Valley, there is usually a long-suffering period of startup limbo (or hell) where nothing happens except stress and work. This period normally ranges from 3 to 8 years. It’s a time when anything else other than work is stunted, delayed or broken. Now you know why the average age of first time parents over here is 35, or why that 40 year old guy is on his 3rd wife. Not to mention that money, when it is finally acquired, buys bigger trophies.
But once you are past that first cycle, the entrepreneur will strike again but things are usually easier during the subsequent rounds. That is because his network, reputation and standing in the business community have already been established so there won’t be the same pressure to ignore all else for the sake of chasing a dream. There’s also some money to tide the family over, plus age gets in the way. No problem, the serial entrepreneur will pull things through no matter how harebrained his idea is. The network will make sure that idea will change the world. Somehow.
So now you know what a billion dollars looks like…and how it gets made.
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A blast from the past: here is a piece I wrote a while back. Just thought it would be interesting to resurrect it as a featured post. Could be one of the reasons I was inspired to name this blog the way I did.
Heh, cool.
I think having ONE more guy in the group isn’t a bad idea — someone who understands VC.
If you send a marketing guy, tech guy, and visionary into a meeting with VC’s, they’ll be eaten alive.
Just my two cents!