A 12 Step Program for Breaking an Addiction to Venture Capital
Venture Capital is a hell of a drug.
At Indie.vc we’ve developed a simple 12 step program, and accompanying pamphlet, for those of you looking to break the habit in 2017:
Step 1: We admitted that we are powerless over VC’s partnership dynamics, tastes in trends, and their ever moving milestones — and that trying to time, or anticipate, them will make our lives, and the lives of our customers and employees unmanageable.
Step 2: Came to believe that a metric greater than our valuation could restore us to sanity.
Step 3: Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the uncompromising vision of the business we are uniquely qualified to build, not the one best suited to attract VC investment.
Step 4: Made a searching and fearless inventory of ourselves, our team and our prospects as a standalone, profitable business.
Step 5: Admitted to our team, to ourselves, and to our customers the changes needed for the viability and long term independence of our business.
Step 6: Were entirely ready to make the difficult changes to remove all unnecessary features, products and projects that were designed to tell a bigger story in hopes of attracting attention and investment from VCs.
Step 7: Humbly embrace the near term pain required to remove these distractions.
Step 8: Made a list of all the truths we’ve stretched and metrics we’ve embellished to convince VCs, and ourselves, that we were a Unicorn in embryo, and became willing to make amends to them all.
Step 9: Made direct amends to focus on creating the absolute best business we are uniquely suited to scale regardless of the potential market cap or market size.
Step 10: Continued to take inventory of our revenue, profitability and positive cash flow. When we burn more cash than we bring in, promptly admitted it and make the necessary cuts, or needed sales, to generate a profit.
Step 11: Sought through user interviews and direct interaction with customers to enhance and simplify our products and offerings to only those that improve their businesses and enrich their personal needs. Seeking only for knowledge of features and holes in our products for which customers would be willing to pay.
Step 12: Having had an awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to unprofitable VC chasing startups, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.
Here’s to a new year filled with profitability and promise…
