2005 Marketing Revenue Seed Money 
Both Sides of the Table
MARCH 25, 2016
It turns out that to build a successful company you ultimately need this strange thing called “revenue” that people don’t just hand you: You need to earn it. And there’s this other thing called “gross margin,” which shows the quality of your revenue. Market Size. Let me be very direct.
Both Sides of the Table
SEPTEMBER 2, 2009
He’s been at it since 2005. We should end the year with a few million in fully recurring revenue and we’re projected to double next year. We could do more in 2010 with more VC investment; the doubling assumes only ratable increase in marketing spend to achieve profitability. >50% of our revenue in now viral.
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www.paulgraham.com
OCTOBER 23, 2010
March 2005 (This essay is derived from a talk at the Harvard ComputerSociety.) You need three things to create a successful startup: to start withgood people, to make something customers actually want, and to spendas little money as possible. The market price is less than the inconvenience of signing an NDA.
techcrunch.com
OCTOBER 23, 2010
Not everybody can, especially if they need to run with the idea to get to market. Pitching to investors before building is a waste of time especially if they do not understand the timing to enter the market. By now it is useless except bragging rights as traction and market disruption have been lost.
www.paulgraham.com
APRIL 28, 2010
November 2005 Venture funding works like gears. A typical startup goes throughseveral rounds of funding, and at each round you want to take justenough money to reach the speed where you can shift into the nextgear. It wasnt because they werent accredited investors that I didntask my parents for seed money, though.
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