As a member of a class of French aristocrats that most Americans would mistake for characters in a faintly Francophobic Monty Python sketch, Christine de Védrines should be forgiven for making unusual choices. An anxious heiress to a centuries-old fortune, she, along with much of her immediate and extended family, entrusted their fortunes and fates to a charismatic gentleman with a penchant for conspiracy theories. The result? For Christine, routine, cultish beatings; for the others, brainwashing, isolation and bankruptcy. It's an uncomfortably fascinating story; vivid and salacious to the point of doubt, and so incredibly specific that it can barely be considered cautionary.
Barely. Somewhere in or around Washington, D.C, a teenager, similarly anxious and also (allegedly!) destined for immense wealth, has been appealing for help with his millions on the Internet. He too is drawn to a charismatic leader with deeply sociopathic tendencies.
On Reddit recently, he asked this:
"What would you do with one billion USD or even several hundred million? I need your help reddit!!"
Then, as if to excuse himself, "I'm 19."
The anonymous heir's story goes something like this: He's a precocious teen who dropped out of college in a fit of entrepreneurship. He has never needed to worry about money, though his family's only conspicuous Rich People habit is apparently constant travel. Soon, though, his life will change. He stands to inherit up to a billion dollars from his grandfather, an Indian infrastructure magnate.
His first order of business after grasping his looming reality? To consult with Reddit, the often fascinating, occasionally disappointing and aggressively nerdy nerve center of the internet. True to form, the users' first responses were jokes:
• "Bring back Firefly….. " (responses include "This guy is our only hope" and "Ctrl-F firefly, upvote.")
• "Two chicks at the same time."
• "So I need to send you my contact information so you can move it out of the country?" (Which elicited the worrying response from the heir, "why move it out?")
When they're not joking around, though, Reddit users have been known to lapse into state of extreme earnestness. A few posters offered surprisingly thorough screeds for and against the concept of charity, and one allegedly similarly endowed user even posted some first-hand advice:
Dude, first off, beware beware BEWARE. Be extremely wary. To put it bluntly, you come across as idealistic and naive. These are not objectively bad qualities to possess, but they absolutely can be if they result in you putting trust in people who do not deserve it. If you do end up possessing such an enormous amount of money, a certain number of people you meet will be looking to take advantage of you, and these people will almost certainly be much more adept than you in financial and legal matters. Please please please do both me and yourself a favor and watch out.
That so many of Reddit's users took the original poster's request seriously and responded with well-intentioned, if not always practical, suggestions is nearly as surprising as the poster's decision to turn to Reddit in the first place. So we are all money managers now, I think?
I reached out to the original poster, who didn't want to be identified and cut our correspondence short. ("I would like to remain anon," he wrote, followed by silence. So: no confirming his story.) No matter—he left a trail of largely convincing and occasionally bizarre responses in his own thread. They paint a queasy portrait. But it's a familiar portrait! Let's call it "Young Money: A Study in Self Awareness." (It's a watercolor.)
On being a self-made man:
"I am currently, trying to build myself on my own. Doing good so far. I am a Young Entrepreneur, have received funding for a start up on my own through my current network. I originally thought that people would judge me by my age and not take me seriously but I was wrong, and I am glad."
On travel:
"USA, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Spain, France, Germany, UK, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, South Africa, Taiwan, China, Italy, India, Japan, Egypt, the Netherlands, Sweden, Australia, if I remember any more I'll let you know."
On philanthropy:
"Actually, I was thinking of putting some money to actually make an ad that if you click, you do in fact get the product it says you will get for free. But you will have to be lucky to get to the ad. I hate all of the internet ads that say, click here to get a free ipod, when I know I never will…."
On bootstraps:
"I was a Dishwasher for a year!"
On priorities:
"my parents believe in me. None of us care about money. Neither do I."
On modesty:
"I have fun doing business. Hence, I dropped out of college, and on my own got a job as Head of Enterprise Business development and built a network on my own that includes the CIO of NASA, CTO of Lockheed Martin, various venture capitalists and other executives."
On hopes:
"My ultimate goal is to help me people make their good ideas into a reality."
On requests for startup cash:
"will reach back out to you."
And finally, on trust:
"Wow!!! I met this guy at an airport from Nigeria. He asked me to do business with him and wanted money. And I looked his name up on google and scam is what pops up first!"
Oh dear.
He seems like a nice guy with pure intentions. He also seems (suspiciously?) like a composite character, created by someone who's had more than a few brushes with young wealth: He's assured, naive, and articulates his insecurities about personal success as matter-of-fact fits of heavily caveated boasting. But again, he seems like a well-meaning guy, and his postings suggest that he is less concerned about doing the COOLEST STUFF EVER than he is about determining what duties will come with his new wealth, and how to fulfill them.
We'll probably never know if he follows Reddit's best or worst advice, or if he just goes through with his own stated plans, or if, you know, he's real. But he's off to a bad start. He hasn't acted on the only piece of indisputably good advice in the entire, thousand comment thread:
"To have already advertised yourself on the internet like this is opening yourself up to trouble. If I were you, the first thing I would do would be to delete this post."
John Herrman writes about tech for Gizmodo, SmartPlanet, PopMech and anywhere else that will have him. He spends slightly less time on Reddit than the above suggests.
Due diligence should always be a two-way street. A while back, I published an article on “Understanding the Dreaded Investor Due Diligence,” describing what investors do to validate your startup before they invest. Here is the inverse, sometimes called reverse due diligence, describing what you should do to validate your investor before signing up for an equity partnership.
I’ve had startup founders tell me that it’s only about the color of the money, but I disagree. Particularly if you are desperate, keep in mind the person who finds a good-looking partner to take home from the bar at closing time, but then wakes up in the morning wondering “What did I just do?” Taking on an investor is like getting married – the relationship has to work at all levels.
Due diligence on an investor is where you validate the track record, operating style, and motivation of your new potential partner. Maybe more importantly, you need to confirm that the investor “chemistry” matches yours. Here are some techniques for making the assessment:
- Talk to other investors. The investment community in any geographic area is not that large, and most investors have relationships or knowledge of most of the others. Of course, you need to listen for biases, but local angel group leaders can quickly tell you who the bad angels and good angels are, and what kind of terms they typically demand.
- Network with other entrepreneurs. Contact peers you have met through networking, both ones who have used this investor, and ones who haven’t. Ask the investor for “references,” meaning contacts at companies where previous investments were made. Don’t just call, but personally visit these contacts.
- Check track record on the Internet and social network. Do a simple Google search like you would on any company or individual before signing a contract. Look for positive or negative news articles, any controversial relationships, and involvement in community organizations. Check the profile of principals on LinkedIn and Facebook.
- Spend time with investors in a non-work environment. As with any relationship, don’t just close the deal in a heated rush. Invite the investment principal to a sports event, or join them in helping at a non-profit cause. Here is where you will really learn if there is a chemistry match that will likely lead to a good mentoring and business relationship.
- Validate business and financial status. Visit the firm’s website and read it carefully. Look for a background and experience in your industry, as well as quality and style. Conduct a routine credit and criminal check, using commercial services like HireRight. Be wary of individuals or funds sourced from offshore.
If you think all this sounds a bit sinister and unnecessary, go back and read again some of the articles about Bernie Madoff and recent investment scams. Remember, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably isn’t true. Entrepreneurs are optimists by nature, so I definitely recommend the involvement of your favorite attorney (usually the pessimist).
I recognize that it has been tough to raise capital these last couple of years, but don’t be tempted to take money from any source. This can be a big mistake, with common complaints running the gamut from unreasonable terms, constant pressure, to company takeovers. Be vigilant and ask questions.
A successful entrepreneur-investor agreement better be the beginning of a long-term relationship. If you don’t feel excited and energized by your first discussions with an investor, give it some time and do your homework. If the feeling doesn’t grow, it may be time to move on. It’s better to be alone than to wish you were alone.
Martin Zwilling is CEO & Founder of Startup Professionals, Inc.; he also serves as Board Member and Executive in Residence at Callaman Ventures and is an advisory board member for multiple startups.This post was originally published on his blog, and it is republished here with permission.
eric seiger
Probably Bad <b>News</b>: Police FAIL - Epic Fail Funny Videos and Funny <b>...</b>
epic fail photos - Probably Bad News: Police FAIL.
Small Business <b>News</b>: New Business Rules
The rules for business keep changing but a few things stay the same. First impressions matter, technology keeps changing the game and costs keep rising as.
Tuesday's <b>news</b>: Studying Shea Weber's super slapper - On the Forecheck
He has broken the bones of teammates and foes alike, rent Olympic nets asunder, and piled up goals at a prodigious rate over the last few years.
eric seiger
As a member of a class of French aristocrats that most Americans would mistake for characters in a faintly Francophobic Monty Python sketch, Christine de Védrines should be forgiven for making unusual choices. An anxious heiress to a centuries-old fortune, she, along with much of her immediate and extended family, entrusted their fortunes and fates to a charismatic gentleman with a penchant for conspiracy theories. The result? For Christine, routine, cultish beatings; for the others, brainwashing, isolation and bankruptcy. It's an uncomfortably fascinating story; vivid and salacious to the point of doubt, and so incredibly specific that it can barely be considered cautionary.
Barely. Somewhere in or around Washington, D.C, a teenager, similarly anxious and also (allegedly!) destined for immense wealth, has been appealing for help with his millions on the Internet. He too is drawn to a charismatic leader with deeply sociopathic tendencies.
On Reddit recently, he asked this:
"What would you do with one billion USD or even several hundred million? I need your help reddit!!"
Then, as if to excuse himself, "I'm 19."
The anonymous heir's story goes something like this: He's a precocious teen who dropped out of college in a fit of entrepreneurship. He has never needed to worry about money, though his family's only conspicuous Rich People habit is apparently constant travel. Soon, though, his life will change. He stands to inherit up to a billion dollars from his grandfather, an Indian infrastructure magnate.
His first order of business after grasping his looming reality? To consult with Reddit, the often fascinating, occasionally disappointing and aggressively nerdy nerve center of the internet. True to form, the users' first responses were jokes:
• "Bring back Firefly….. " (responses include "This guy is our only hope" and "Ctrl-F firefly, upvote.")
• "Two chicks at the same time."
• "So I need to send you my contact information so you can move it out of the country?" (Which elicited the worrying response from the heir, "why move it out?")
When they're not joking around, though, Reddit users have been known to lapse into state of extreme earnestness. A few posters offered surprisingly thorough screeds for and against the concept of charity, and one allegedly similarly endowed user even posted some first-hand advice:
Dude, first off, beware beware BEWARE. Be extremely wary. To put it bluntly, you come across as idealistic and naive. These are not objectively bad qualities to possess, but they absolutely can be if they result in you putting trust in people who do not deserve it. If you do end up possessing such an enormous amount of money, a certain number of people you meet will be looking to take advantage of you, and these people will almost certainly be much more adept than you in financial and legal matters. Please please please do both me and yourself a favor and watch out.
That so many of Reddit's users took the original poster's request seriously and responded with well-intentioned, if not always practical, suggestions is nearly as surprising as the poster's decision to turn to Reddit in the first place. So we are all money managers now, I think?
I reached out to the original poster, who didn't want to be identified and cut our correspondence short. ("I would like to remain anon," he wrote, followed by silence. So: no confirming his story.) No matter—he left a trail of largely convincing and occasionally bizarre responses in his own thread. They paint a queasy portrait. But it's a familiar portrait! Let's call it "Young Money: A Study in Self Awareness." (It's a watercolor.)
On being a self-made man:
"I am currently, trying to build myself on my own. Doing good so far. I am a Young Entrepreneur, have received funding for a start up on my own through my current network. I originally thought that people would judge me by my age and not take me seriously but I was wrong, and I am glad."
On travel:
"USA, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Spain, France, Germany, UK, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, South Africa, Taiwan, China, Italy, India, Japan, Egypt, the Netherlands, Sweden, Australia, if I remember any more I'll let you know."
On philanthropy:
"Actually, I was thinking of putting some money to actually make an ad that if you click, you do in fact get the product it says you will get for free. But you will have to be lucky to get to the ad. I hate all of the internet ads that say, click here to get a free ipod, when I know I never will…."
On bootstraps:
"I was a Dishwasher for a year!"
On priorities:
"my parents believe in me. None of us care about money. Neither do I."
On modesty:
"I have fun doing business. Hence, I dropped out of college, and on my own got a job as Head of Enterprise Business development and built a network on my own that includes the CIO of NASA, CTO of Lockheed Martin, various venture capitalists and other executives."
On hopes:
"My ultimate goal is to help me people make their good ideas into a reality."
On requests for startup cash:
"will reach back out to you."
And finally, on trust:
"Wow!!! I met this guy at an airport from Nigeria. He asked me to do business with him and wanted money. And I looked his name up on google and scam is what pops up first!"
Oh dear.
He seems like a nice guy with pure intentions. He also seems (suspiciously?) like a composite character, created by someone who's had more than a few brushes with young wealth: He's assured, naive, and articulates his insecurities about personal success as matter-of-fact fits of heavily caveated boasting. But again, he seems like a well-meaning guy, and his postings suggest that he is less concerned about doing the COOLEST STUFF EVER than he is about determining what duties will come with his new wealth, and how to fulfill them.
We'll probably never know if he follows Reddit's best or worst advice, or if he just goes through with his own stated plans, or if, you know, he's real. But he's off to a bad start. He hasn't acted on the only piece of indisputably good advice in the entire, thousand comment thread:
"To have already advertised yourself on the internet like this is opening yourself up to trouble. If I were you, the first thing I would do would be to delete this post."
John Herrman writes about tech for Gizmodo, SmartPlanet, PopMech and anywhere else that will have him. He spends slightly less time on Reddit than the above suggests.
Due diligence should always be a two-way street. A while back, I published an article on “Understanding the Dreaded Investor Due Diligence,” describing what investors do to validate your startup before they invest. Here is the inverse, sometimes called reverse due diligence, describing what you should do to validate your investor before signing up for an equity partnership.
I’ve had startup founders tell me that it’s only about the color of the money, but I disagree. Particularly if you are desperate, keep in mind the person who finds a good-looking partner to take home from the bar at closing time, but then wakes up in the morning wondering “What did I just do?” Taking on an investor is like getting married – the relationship has to work at all levels.
Due diligence on an investor is where you validate the track record, operating style, and motivation of your new potential partner. Maybe more importantly, you need to confirm that the investor “chemistry” matches yours. Here are some techniques for making the assessment:
- Talk to other investors. The investment community in any geographic area is not that large, and most investors have relationships or knowledge of most of the others. Of course, you need to listen for biases, but local angel group leaders can quickly tell you who the bad angels and good angels are, and what kind of terms they typically demand.
- Network with other entrepreneurs. Contact peers you have met through networking, both ones who have used this investor, and ones who haven’t. Ask the investor for “references,” meaning contacts at companies where previous investments were made. Don’t just call, but personally visit these contacts.
- Check track record on the Internet and social network. Do a simple Google search like you would on any company or individual before signing a contract. Look for positive or negative news articles, any controversial relationships, and involvement in community organizations. Check the profile of principals on LinkedIn and Facebook.
- Spend time with investors in a non-work environment. As with any relationship, don’t just close the deal in a heated rush. Invite the investment principal to a sports event, or join them in helping at a non-profit cause. Here is where you will really learn if there is a chemistry match that will likely lead to a good mentoring and business relationship.
- Validate business and financial status. Visit the firm’s website and read it carefully. Look for a background and experience in your industry, as well as quality and style. Conduct a routine credit and criminal check, using commercial services like HireRight. Be wary of individuals or funds sourced from offshore.
If you think all this sounds a bit sinister and unnecessary, go back and read again some of the articles about Bernie Madoff and recent investment scams. Remember, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably isn’t true. Entrepreneurs are optimists by nature, so I definitely recommend the involvement of your favorite attorney (usually the pessimist).
I recognize that it has been tough to raise capital these last couple of years, but don’t be tempted to take money from any source. This can be a big mistake, with common complaints running the gamut from unreasonable terms, constant pressure, to company takeovers. Be vigilant and ask questions.
A successful entrepreneur-investor agreement better be the beginning of a long-term relationship. If you don’t feel excited and energized by your first discussions with an investor, give it some time and do your homework. If the feeling doesn’t grow, it may be time to move on. It’s better to be alone than to wish you were alone.
Martin Zwilling is CEO & Founder of Startup Professionals, Inc.; he also serves as Board Member and Executive in Residence at Callaman Ventures and is an advisory board member for multiple startups.This post was originally published on his blog, and it is republished here with permission.
eric seiger
Probably Bad <b>News</b>: Police FAIL - Epic Fail Funny Videos and Funny <b>...</b>
epic fail photos - Probably Bad News: Police FAIL.
Small Business <b>News</b>: New Business Rules
The rules for business keep changing but a few things stay the same. First impressions matter, technology keeps changing the game and costs keep rising as.
Tuesday's <b>news</b>: Studying Shea Weber's super slapper - On the Forecheck
He has broken the bones of teammates and foes alike, rent Olympic nets asunder, and piled up goals at a prodigious rate over the last few years.
eric seiger
eric seiger
eric seiger
Probably Bad <b>News</b>: Police FAIL - Epic Fail Funny Videos and Funny <b>...</b>
epic fail photos - Probably Bad News: Police FAIL.
Small Business <b>News</b>: New Business Rules
The rules for business keep changing but a few things stay the same. First impressions matter, technology keeps changing the game and costs keep rising as.
Tuesday's <b>news</b>: Studying Shea Weber's super slapper - On the Forecheck
He has broken the bones of teammates and foes alike, rent Olympic nets asunder, and piled up goals at a prodigious rate over the last few years.
eric seiger
As a member of a class of French aristocrats that most Americans would mistake for characters in a faintly Francophobic Monty Python sketch, Christine de Védrines should be forgiven for making unusual choices. An anxious heiress to a centuries-old fortune, she, along with much of her immediate and extended family, entrusted their fortunes and fates to a charismatic gentleman with a penchant for conspiracy theories. The result? For Christine, routine, cultish beatings; for the others, brainwashing, isolation and bankruptcy. It's an uncomfortably fascinating story; vivid and salacious to the point of doubt, and so incredibly specific that it can barely be considered cautionary.
Barely. Somewhere in or around Washington, D.C, a teenager, similarly anxious and also (allegedly!) destined for immense wealth, has been appealing for help with his millions on the Internet. He too is drawn to a charismatic leader with deeply sociopathic tendencies.
On Reddit recently, he asked this:
"What would you do with one billion USD or even several hundred million? I need your help reddit!!"
Then, as if to excuse himself, "I'm 19."
The anonymous heir's story goes something like this: He's a precocious teen who dropped out of college in a fit of entrepreneurship. He has never needed to worry about money, though his family's only conspicuous Rich People habit is apparently constant travel. Soon, though, his life will change. He stands to inherit up to a billion dollars from his grandfather, an Indian infrastructure magnate.
His first order of business after grasping his looming reality? To consult with Reddit, the often fascinating, occasionally disappointing and aggressively nerdy nerve center of the internet. True to form, the users' first responses were jokes:
• "Bring back Firefly….. " (responses include "This guy is our only hope" and "Ctrl-F firefly, upvote.")
• "Two chicks at the same time."
• "So I need to send you my contact information so you can move it out of the country?" (Which elicited the worrying response from the heir, "why move it out?")
When they're not joking around, though, Reddit users have been known to lapse into state of extreme earnestness. A few posters offered surprisingly thorough screeds for and against the concept of charity, and one allegedly similarly endowed user even posted some first-hand advice:
Dude, first off, beware beware BEWARE. Be extremely wary. To put it bluntly, you come across as idealistic and naive. These are not objectively bad qualities to possess, but they absolutely can be if they result in you putting trust in people who do not deserve it. If you do end up possessing such an enormous amount of money, a certain number of people you meet will be looking to take advantage of you, and these people will almost certainly be much more adept than you in financial and legal matters. Please please please do both me and yourself a favor and watch out.
That so many of Reddit's users took the original poster's request seriously and responded with well-intentioned, if not always practical, suggestions is nearly as surprising as the poster's decision to turn to Reddit in the first place. So we are all money managers now, I think?
I reached out to the original poster, who didn't want to be identified and cut our correspondence short. ("I would like to remain anon," he wrote, followed by silence. So: no confirming his story.) No matter—he left a trail of largely convincing and occasionally bizarre responses in his own thread. They paint a queasy portrait. But it's a familiar portrait! Let's call it "Young Money: A Study in Self Awareness." (It's a watercolor.)
On being a self-made man:
"I am currently, trying to build myself on my own. Doing good so far. I am a Young Entrepreneur, have received funding for a start up on my own through my current network. I originally thought that people would judge me by my age and not take me seriously but I was wrong, and I am glad."
On travel:
"USA, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Spain, France, Germany, UK, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, South Africa, Taiwan, China, Italy, India, Japan, Egypt, the Netherlands, Sweden, Australia, if I remember any more I'll let you know."
On philanthropy:
"Actually, I was thinking of putting some money to actually make an ad that if you click, you do in fact get the product it says you will get for free. But you will have to be lucky to get to the ad. I hate all of the internet ads that say, click here to get a free ipod, when I know I never will…."
On bootstraps:
"I was a Dishwasher for a year!"
On priorities:
"my parents believe in me. None of us care about money. Neither do I."
On modesty:
"I have fun doing business. Hence, I dropped out of college, and on my own got a job as Head of Enterprise Business development and built a network on my own that includes the CIO of NASA, CTO of Lockheed Martin, various venture capitalists and other executives."
On hopes:
"My ultimate goal is to help me people make their good ideas into a reality."
On requests for startup cash:
"will reach back out to you."
And finally, on trust:
"Wow!!! I met this guy at an airport from Nigeria. He asked me to do business with him and wanted money. And I looked his name up on google and scam is what pops up first!"
Oh dear.
He seems like a nice guy with pure intentions. He also seems (suspiciously?) like a composite character, created by someone who's had more than a few brushes with young wealth: He's assured, naive, and articulates his insecurities about personal success as matter-of-fact fits of heavily caveated boasting. But again, he seems like a well-meaning guy, and his postings suggest that he is less concerned about doing the COOLEST STUFF EVER than he is about determining what duties will come with his new wealth, and how to fulfill them.
We'll probably never know if he follows Reddit's best or worst advice, or if he just goes through with his own stated plans, or if, you know, he's real. But he's off to a bad start. He hasn't acted on the only piece of indisputably good advice in the entire, thousand comment thread:
"To have already advertised yourself on the internet like this is opening yourself up to trouble. If I were you, the first thing I would do would be to delete this post."
John Herrman writes about tech for Gizmodo, SmartPlanet, PopMech and anywhere else that will have him. He spends slightly less time on Reddit than the above suggests.
Due diligence should always be a two-way street. A while back, I published an article on “Understanding the Dreaded Investor Due Diligence,” describing what investors do to validate your startup before they invest. Here is the inverse, sometimes called reverse due diligence, describing what you should do to validate your investor before signing up for an equity partnership.
I’ve had startup founders tell me that it’s only about the color of the money, but I disagree. Particularly if you are desperate, keep in mind the person who finds a good-looking partner to take home from the bar at closing time, but then wakes up in the morning wondering “What did I just do?” Taking on an investor is like getting married – the relationship has to work at all levels.
Due diligence on an investor is where you validate the track record, operating style, and motivation of your new potential partner. Maybe more importantly, you need to confirm that the investor “chemistry” matches yours. Here are some techniques for making the assessment:
- Talk to other investors. The investment community in any geographic area is not that large, and most investors have relationships or knowledge of most of the others. Of course, you need to listen for biases, but local angel group leaders can quickly tell you who the bad angels and good angels are, and what kind of terms they typically demand.
- Network with other entrepreneurs. Contact peers you have met through networking, both ones who have used this investor, and ones who haven’t. Ask the investor for “references,” meaning contacts at companies where previous investments were made. Don’t just call, but personally visit these contacts.
- Check track record on the Internet and social network. Do a simple Google search like you would on any company or individual before signing a contract. Look for positive or negative news articles, any controversial relationships, and involvement in community organizations. Check the profile of principals on LinkedIn and Facebook.
- Spend time with investors in a non-work environment. As with any relationship, don’t just close the deal in a heated rush. Invite the investment principal to a sports event, or join them in helping at a non-profit cause. Here is where you will really learn if there is a chemistry match that will likely lead to a good mentoring and business relationship.
- Validate business and financial status. Visit the firm’s website and read it carefully. Look for a background and experience in your industry, as well as quality and style. Conduct a routine credit and criminal check, using commercial services like HireRight. Be wary of individuals or funds sourced from offshore.
If you think all this sounds a bit sinister and unnecessary, go back and read again some of the articles about Bernie Madoff and recent investment scams. Remember, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably isn’t true. Entrepreneurs are optimists by nature, so I definitely recommend the involvement of your favorite attorney (usually the pessimist).
I recognize that it has been tough to raise capital these last couple of years, but don’t be tempted to take money from any source. This can be a big mistake, with common complaints running the gamut from unreasonable terms, constant pressure, to company takeovers. Be vigilant and ask questions.
A successful entrepreneur-investor agreement better be the beginning of a long-term relationship. If you don’t feel excited and energized by your first discussions with an investor, give it some time and do your homework. If the feeling doesn’t grow, it may be time to move on. It’s better to be alone than to wish you were alone.
Martin Zwilling is CEO & Founder of Startup Professionals, Inc.; he also serves as Board Member and Executive in Residence at Callaman Ventures and is an advisory board member for multiple startups.This post was originally published on his blog, and it is republished here with permission.
eric seiger
eric seiger
Probably Bad <b>News</b>: Police FAIL - Epic Fail Funny Videos and Funny <b>...</b>
epic fail photos - Probably Bad News: Police FAIL.
Small Business <b>News</b>: New Business Rules
The rules for business keep changing but a few things stay the same. First impressions matter, technology keeps changing the game and costs keep rising as.
Tuesday's <b>news</b>: Studying Shea Weber's super slapper - On the Forecheck
He has broken the bones of teammates and foes alike, rent Olympic nets asunder, and piled up goals at a prodigious rate over the last few years.
eric seiger
eric seiger
Probably Bad <b>News</b>: Police FAIL - Epic Fail Funny Videos and Funny <b>...</b>
epic fail photos - Probably Bad News: Police FAIL.
Small Business <b>News</b>: New Business Rules
The rules for business keep changing but a few things stay the same. First impressions matter, technology keeps changing the game and costs keep rising as.
Tuesday's <b>news</b>: Studying Shea Weber's super slapper - On the Forecheck
He has broken the bones of teammates and foes alike, rent Olympic nets asunder, and piled up goals at a prodigious rate over the last few years.
eric seiger
Probably Bad <b>News</b>: Police FAIL - Epic Fail Funny Videos and Funny <b>...</b>
epic fail photos - Probably Bad News: Police FAIL.
Small Business <b>News</b>: New Business Rules
The rules for business keep changing but a few things stay the same. First impressions matter, technology keeps changing the game and costs keep rising as.
Tuesday's <b>news</b>: Studying Shea Weber's super slapper - On the Forecheck
He has broken the bones of teammates and foes alike, rent Olympic nets asunder, and piled up goals at a prodigious rate over the last few years.
eric seiger
Probably Bad <b>News</b>: Police FAIL - Epic Fail Funny Videos and Funny <b>...</b>
epic fail photos - Probably Bad News: Police FAIL.
Small Business <b>News</b>: New Business Rules
The rules for business keep changing but a few things stay the same. First impressions matter, technology keeps changing the game and costs keep rising as.
Tuesday's <b>news</b>: Studying Shea Weber's super slapper - On the Forecheck
He has broken the bones of teammates and foes alike, rent Olympic nets asunder, and piled up goals at a prodigious rate over the last few years.
eric seiger eric seiger
eric seiger
eric seiger
eric seiger
Probably Bad <b>News</b>: Police FAIL - Epic Fail Funny Videos and Funny <b>...</b>
epic fail photos - Probably Bad News: Police FAIL.
Small Business <b>News</b>: New Business Rules
The rules for business keep changing but a few things stay the same. First impressions matter, technology keeps changing the game and costs keep rising as.
Tuesday's <b>news</b>: Studying Shea Weber's super slapper - On the Forecheck
He has broken the bones of teammates and foes alike, rent Olympic nets asunder, and piled up goals at a prodigious rate over the last few years.
eric seiger
Probably Bad <b>News</b>: Police FAIL - Epic Fail Funny Videos and Funny <b>...</b>
epic fail photos - Probably Bad News: Police FAIL.
Small Business <b>News</b>: New Business Rules
The rules for business keep changing but a few things stay the same. First impressions matter, technology keeps changing the game and costs keep rising as.
Tuesday's <b>news</b>: Studying Shea Weber's super slapper - On the Forecheck
He has broken the bones of teammates and foes alike, rent Olympic nets asunder, and piled up goals at a prodigious rate over the last few years.
eric seiger
Probably Bad <b>News</b>: Police FAIL - Epic Fail Funny Videos and Funny <b>...</b>
epic fail photos - Probably Bad News: Police FAIL.
Small Business <b>News</b>: New Business Rules
The rules for business keep changing but a few things stay the same. First impressions matter, technology keeps changing the game and costs keep rising as.
Tuesday's <b>news</b>: Studying Shea Weber's super slapper - On the Forecheck
He has broken the bones of teammates and foes alike, rent Olympic nets asunder, and piled up goals at a prodigious rate over the last few years.
eric seiger
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