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Don’t drink your own Kool-Aid (surviving TC50)

Both Sides of the Table

I’m not going to cover in this post the obvious post-show marketing tasks such as following up on all those business cards you grabbed, communicating with all those people who registered at your site and leveraging your new found fame to score venture capital. 2001-2004 were very humbling but we built a real company.

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The Venture Capital Secret: 3 Out of 4 Start-Ups Fail

online.wsj.com

SIGNIFICANCE PROMINENT. --> The Venture Capital Secret: 3 Out of 4 Start-Ups Fail. An entrepreneur with a hot technology and venture-capital funding becomes a billionaire in his 20s. The National Venture Capital Association estimates that 25% to 30% of venture-backed businesses fail. NAME David Cowan.

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Scaling is Hard, Case Study: TripAdvisor

Seeing Both Sides

Going B2C was daunting and not in our core DNA,” Kaufer remarked. The company agreed to be acquired by Expedia/IAC in 2004 for $210 million in cash, a huge win for all, particularly given their amazing capital efficiency: they had only raised $4 million in venture capital.