Month: January 2011

I was asked this question yesterday by a founder.

I hear this question all the time so I thought I would write down my thoughts. 

The short answer is you should raise a bit more than you think.

The tension that most founders raising seed capital face is dilution. The seed round is when you sell shares in your company when the price is the lowest it will likely be. So founders naturully want to sell as little of that stock as they can to protect their ownership.

That makes sense.

But based on the seed investments I’ve seen both in and outside of our portfolio in great companies and less great startups, the majority of them wish they had another 3 months or so of runway to make stuff happen. 

I’m not talking about an additional year of runway, I’m talking about another 3-6months more *beyond* their original plan.

I give this advice in good times when capital is easier and in bad times when investors are scared. Raise a bit more. 

The day you close your seed round is an exciting, happy moment for sure. But there will be good days and bad days and having a little extra cash in the bank will be helpful. 

This morning as I was walking to my office, i was checking out Twitter and saw this tweet from my friend Dave Winer. 

Is it wise spending our time writing for *other* sites? http://r2.ly/9ipc

The link sent to me to this post by Adam Laskin who wrote about the pro’s and con’s of contributing to sites like Quora vs your own blog or website. 

I’ve been in a big believer in blogging and self publishing. I think everyone should own their own domain and point it where they want. That way you have ultimate control. It also helps that if you do a Google search on ‘bijan sabet’ my blog will come up first. I like that. 

But I don’t feel like all of my content should live explicitly on my website.

I want my content anywhere that is useful and interesting to my friends, family, colleagues and my community. That’s why I contribute to various online communities and while I’ll continue to do that.

Depending on the content at hand, i’ll sometimes reblog it here as well as other places if it’s something noteworthy. I do that with an occassional gadget review or a photograph.

I think all content owners should think about it their content that way. Make it easy for others to consume and provide feedback. 

It’s better for you. It’s better for the web. And it will improve your give/get ratio. 

I wrote a glowing review a day after I bought my Nexus S.

I still love Android and I still believe that the Nexus S is the best Android device today.

But I’m gonna return mine.

I just can’t live with tmobile given where I work, live and play.

So I’m back to an iPhone4 and the HTC Incredible on Verizon. Yeah, I’m still carrying two phones and I don’t see that changing any time soon.

Its the price to pay if you want android, Verizon, a great camera and the latest and best apps.

I suspect that will change over time but for now I’m just grateful that google voice makes this crazy set up work for me.