Not hard to imagine. 700M users at a $70B valuation = $100 per user. I guess that's why how the current valuation of LinkedIn comes about. And if you use this metric, and believes that LinkedIn's growth potential is significantly stronger than Facebook, you could even argue that LNKD is still way undervalued.
BTW I made a Tagxedo (word cloud) of this morning's LinkedIn News, and one prominently featured word explains all (the word starts with "F" and ends with "k" :D)
Most everyone trying to get accepted by YC is familiar with PG, his writings, and the YC partners experience regarding startups. It's a primary reason many apply.
Respect that PG and the other founders know how to scale the program and handle the workload. They have all the experience of running YC, while each of us has none.
They would be the first to limit their startup count if that needed to happen.
Almost all incubators aren't worth the time/equity given up.
My startup applied for YC and (having not made it) will not be pursuing any others. We may apply for YC again, not for the money but the experience and the alumni.
Yeah I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop. Like what if the spammer was Calacanis and immediately put the kabosh on all the OA's fundraising efforts and speaking engagements? Now that would have been a story.
37Signals is not selling Sortfolio to make money - clearly they have enough - but because they believe the product deserves a better home.
I believe they won't accept the highest bid as much as the most interesting offer. I don't mean to say they'll give it away to a small, poor startup group; but I do think their preference would be that the next owner take it to the next level both in terms of direction and financial success.
I'm actually more interested in Sortfolio now than I was before. 37Signals is in a position to be as choosy as they'd like with the future buyer. I wonder who they will choose....
37Signals is not selling Sortfolio to make money - clearly they have enough
That's a strange statement. It's also countered by the fact that they're selling the company, for money.. and that they're not interested in equity as part of the sale.
I think the OP is saying the 37s will measure the "success" of this deal on what Sortfolio becomes, not on how much they can make on the transaction. Ergo, if they believe a buyer has the chops to purchase Sortfolio and build it out different markets, they may select that buyer over one that (for example) wants to purchase it for more money and simply shut it down.
I'm not taking an opinion personally, but that's my take on the comment.
I wonder if we - to a certain degree - might receive better reporting since he is more active on a day-to-day basis in the actual investing. I really have no idea if this would be the case, but it's entirely possible that he might be privy to additional info than he would otherwise.
As for as the open letter...Mike appears to be open about who he's investing with and I would doubt he would want to harm his reputation - or TechCrunch's - by appearing to be biased towards those he has a vested interest in.
Well written letter but perhaps wait until you have examples of the downsides before you write the next. It will carry far more weight.
I hadn't thought of that before reading your post, but I agree. Mike getting into investing may actually improve TC because he now is getting involved with startups on a more fundamental level. It might open him up to reporting on startups that would have otherwise been missed because they aren't buzz companies. In any event, it will prove to be an interesting case study in journalistic integrity.
There are no set of rules all startups should follow. There are however guidelines that ought to be considered, and discussions that absolutely need to be had.
If you believe in the concept, believe in the team, and believe it will be successful, don't sacrifice all of that due to not getting an extra 5% you believe is deserved.
Find what works for your team and build something incredible. Remember you likely are not capable of doing this on your own.
Glad you have an opinion on erring on the side of caution- you've stated it - perhaps now you can answer our questions and share your story.