Yep. Series seed can be done for under 5k, and so can convertible equity/notes. It's less about the type of tool you're using, and more to do with how much modification to the standards you want to do. Thats the beauty of standardized documentation, minimal negotiation and cost.
(I'm an engineer @everlane) The general concept behind this is not maximizing metrics. We didn't put social sharing buttons there, and we were not in your face about email capture because that would have distracted from the core message. This was a high risk marketing play - we wanted to see how much buzz and earned press we could get by doing this. The sort of extremeness of the design is part of the message.
I love your quotes! I am myself a founder just getting to market and these serendipitous encounters and random acts seem to pop up out of nowhere and solidify my progress. Cheers and thanks!
Dreeves~ Loved the post myself! Thank you for sharing. I at times wonder about my startup name, but your criteria laid out does help rationalize a decision.
Still am curious about names with numbers...37signals, or 86..
Ok But I think you are missing the point. They reached out to a firm "Matrix Partners" to help them execute by financial means and that firms individuals chose to spin off an exact duplicate of their startup?! Sham! ~That firm should be frowned upon and ridiculed and avoided by all entrepreneurs.
What alternative is there even? You can't look at patents to avoid infringing because having a policy of looking at patents can actually put you in a worse position when you inevitably violate one (and if you are doing anything, you will).
The only thing you can do is have your engineers operate like patents don't exist, and hire a bunch of lawyers to cover your ass.
I think applying that philosophy to every decision you make will get you sued. Sure, nothing important would come of it if the patent is junk, but if it isn't, and if your product takes off, then you will be in a major bind.
1. Company is too small to be noticed (or sued)
2. Company is noticeable but does not have resources to prevent or defeat lawsuits
3. Company is too big or powerful to be sued
Companies on the smallest end of the spectrum won't be sued, either because nobody has ever heard of them, they don't have anything worth using over, or a combination of both. These are your bedroom startups.
Companies on the bigger end of the spectrum have more patents and lawyers than there are sausage on a meat lover's pizza. These are Microsoft, IBM, and and the like.
Some companies go public on the stock market and don't even raise 200m of cash. To raise 200m in VC capital alone is an enormous task. As for PR, people love public figures and leaders. They want to associate with the individual strife to the top! It makes for an incredible story about your product/service and this is what you want to do. You want to strike an emotion with your users!
First, raising capital and going public are two entirely different things. One is generally an exit event and the other is not. One garners returns for your investors and the other does not. Square is raising operating capital to continue operations, not selling itself publicly to create returns for previous investors. I would be much, much more impressed to see Square go public than raise any amount of money. Or much more impressed with a company that raised $0 going public.
Big rounds aren't what matters when I say miss. What matters is that Square was not able to raise at the valuation it wanted and what that signals regarding their internal finances and the valley's investment community in general (and even beyond since Square raised from companies outside SV).
And yes, Square/Dorsey seem to strike a great emotional nerve, but that's my point. That's not by accident. That's very carefully crafted marketing. And to get as much coverage as they do, they probably spend an enormous amount on internal or external PR. It's all carefully crafted to tell exactly the story that Square wants us to hear.
My question is this...why doesn't a service like Heroku which acts as a Paas...have this built in? I'm on their blog now trying to understand their complete setup..
