A friend of mine recently asked me a simple question: “After four years as a VC, knowing what you know now, what basic tips do you have for guys like me who are growing venture-backed businesses?” It got me thinking about what I’ve learned being on the other side of the fence – and though I don’t profess to be an expert on how to be the perfect entrepreneur, I thought my own experiences might help some founders out in the trenches today.
1) Keep your options open. The smartest second- and third-time entrepreneurs I see raise capital in a very focused and efficient manner. They preserve option value at each stage of the company’s growth and make conscious decisions about how to proceed in each funding round. I learned this the hard way in my first company, where we raised capital at a $250M valuation and essentially priced ourselves out of an attractive M&A opportunity. I can’t tell you how many companies I see that would be terrific $50M-100M acquisition targets, but lose that option because they’ve raised too much capital.
To read the full, original article click on this link: 8 tips for entrepreneurs from a founder-turned-VC | VentureBeat
