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aral's profile
Aral Balkan
Aral Balkan
Aral Balkan
@aral

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Aral Balkan

@aral

I mainly post on my blog at https://ar.al  (RSS: https://ar.al/index.xml ) and interact on my Mastodon https://mastodon.ar.al . Please follow me there.

Terra firma
ar.al
Joined December 2006

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    Aral Balkan‏ @aral Jun 5

    Venture Capital is poison. Here’s why: When you take VC, the investors invest in the sale of your company. That’s called the exit. That’s when they profit. So either your company fails or it sells (either to the public via an IPO or to another company). There’s no third option.

    10:27 AM - 5 Jun 2018
    • 35 Retweets
    • 90 Likes
    • Baran Gábor Orosz Sha1 iKyle Evadne W. The Lake Project 🌊 Anush Mp Constantin Jacob Vadim Shpakovski
    12 replies 35 retweets 90 likes
      1. New conversation
      2. Aral Balkan‏ @aral Jun 5

        * A few companies might manage to avoid the exit by buying out their investors or due to sheer luck (ask the FastMail folks for their story over a beer sometime) or try to postpone it (see Automattic) but that’s not statistically significant/not how the system’s designed to work.

        3 replies 3 retweets 13 likes
        Show this thread
      3. Aral Balkan‏ @aral Jun 5

        Instead of this shortsighted, greed-driven, Vegas-style system, we can do things sustainably in Europe. Let’s invest not in disposable Startups but in Stayups—companies without equity that cannot sell, where the return is share of revenue/profit. Let’s get rid of exits.

        3 replies 7 retweets 37 likes
        Show this thread
      4. Aral Balkan‏ @aral Jun 5

        And, if we’re investing the EU taxpayer’s money — if we’re investing from the commons — let’s stipulate that the fruits of that investment must enrich the commons; that the products created are free/open, decentralised, & interoperable. Let’s build ethical tech infrastructure.

        4 replies 10 retweets 36 likes
        Show this thread
      5. End of conversation
      1. New conversation
      2. sha‏ @shashashasha Jun 16
        Replying to @aral

        It took me far too long to realize that VC actually *requires* the Facebooks, Googles, etc to be killed, otherwise the whole model would fall apart.

        1 reply 0 retweets 1 like
      3. Aral Balkan‏ @aral Jun 16
        Replying to @shashashasha

        Do you mean because if they get too big then it becomes impossible to compete with them? They’ve got the answer to that: Google, etc., are doing VC now. (Yeah, the system creates a zero-sum game that is, ultimately, unsustainable. It’s a system only a sociopath could love.)

        1 reply 0 retweets 0 likes
      4. sha‏ @shashashasha Jun 16
        Replying to @aral

        Ah I mean, after the exit VC has realized their gains, but they keep re-upping larger and larger funds so their model actually requires them to fund companies to kill companies they've funded and exited

        0 replies 0 retweets 0 likes
      5. End of conversation
      1. New conversation
      2. Sohil Gupta‏ @sohilgupta Jun 16
        Replying to @aral

        Try a bank loan then. You want money for free. Perhaps this isn't the Disneyworld that you thought it should be.

        1 reply 1 retweet 6 likes
      3. Ran Reichman‏ @ranreichman Jun 16
        Replying to @sohilgupta @rabois_likes @aral

        But read Shoe Dog before you get one

        0 replies 0 retweets 5 likes
      4. End of conversation
      1. Vinod Khosla‏Verified account @vkhosla Jun 16
        Replying to @aral

        Stupid statement. First each VC is different with different goals. If I read the word exit in a plan's first few pages I stop reading it. I focus on teams who want to build and eventually want an IPO. Sale exit is a necessity sometimes not the goal. Kill VC & kill innovation

        0 replies 1 retweet 11 likes
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      1. Don MacAskill‏Verified account @DonMacAskill Jun 16
        Replying to @aral

        Such a strange point-of-view. I don't know a VC that isn't clear on this point - and if that's not ok with you, don't take their investment. I haven't yet for this reason - but I didn't think it was poison. It was just a set of trade-offs.

        0 replies 0 retweets 3 likes
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      1. New conversation
      2. Jarek Pendowski‏ @iloveshw Jun 16
        Replying to @aral @steipete

        What you described isn’t poison - it’s an investment - they also want your company to grow. If you fail everybody looses. The problem is when you and VC see profit in different areas (and push you in that area) or in different timeline. Choose your partners wisely (not just VCs)

        2 replies 0 retweets 1 like
      3. Catalyst One‏ @M1Catalyst Jun 16
        Replying to @iloveshw @aral @steipete

        Flip your lens. What is it when absolute control re an org’s existence death sale & profit distr rests w/ in Ppl who restrict profits to their personal gain while refusing to equally enrich EVERY participant who made a co grow? And ppl say feudalism died in the 14th Century.

        1 reply 0 retweets 0 likes
      4. Jarek Pendowski‏ @iloveshw Jun 16
        Replying to @M1Catalyst @aral @steipete

        Again - depend on which partners you choose and on what terms you agree. People are getting screwed without VCs by making wrong deals with wrong people. There is a myth that you can’t make it without VC money. But also - quick example - we wouldn’t have GitHub without VC money

        1 reply 0 retweets 2 likes
      5. Catalyst One‏ @M1Catalyst Jun 16
        Replying to @iloveshw @aral @steipete

        Catalyst One Retweeted Aral Balkan

        Ditto Cambridge Analytica. Axiom. Prosper. And a gaggle of other illegal Surveillance Capitalists partnered w/ the most vicious and lawless Governments humanity has ever seen. At the speed of the net. Read all Aral’s analyses b4 you judge.https://twitter.com/aral/status/1008091148185894912?s=21 …

        Catalyst One added,

        Aral Balkan @aral
        Here, educate yourself: 1. https://ar.al/notes/the-nature-of-the-self-in-the-digital-age … 2. https://ar.al/notes/encouraging-individual-sovereignty-and-a-healthy-commons … 3. https://ar.al/notes/we-didnt-lose-control-it-was-stolen/ … Bonus, TL;DR: a video: https://vimeo.com/270030159  #SurveillanceCapitalism #VentureCapital #VC https://twitter.com/peterwdj/status/1008088249275994119 …
        0 replies 0 retweets 0 likes
      6. End of conversation
      1. nminnov‏ @nminnov Jun 16
        Replying to @aral @steipete

        What’s the third option that VC precludes? Being successful and not selling the company?

        0 replies 0 retweets 1 like
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      1. Anush Mp‏ @tweetanush Jun 17
        Replying to @aral

        Both entrepreneurs and VCs have to be accountable to the LPs investment horizon. Isn't that how capital markets work? People wouldn't get their pensions and stuff.

        0 replies 0 retweets 0 likes
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      1. Catalyst One‏ @M1Catalyst Jun 16
        Replying to @aral

        And rampant unrestrained Capitalism is the sadistic psychopath of every modern economy. You give me hope, Aral. As long as nations, like Russia, whose vatniks let Putin’s Mafioso destroy their economy, are prevented from making their crimes our problem (or blowing up our 🌍).

        0 replies 0 retweets 0 likes
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      1. Dad‏ @GeekAndDad Jun 16
        Replying to @aral @nicklockwood

        And they're nearly always in a hurry because time-value-of-money etc

        0 replies 0 retweets 0 likes
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      1. Mohamed Wardi‏ @MohamedWardi_ Jun 5
        Replying to @aral

        It can be poison but for cash-trapped startups it may be the only food available

        0 replies 0 retweets 0 likes
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      1. Raul Portales‏ @sla_shalafi Jun 5
        Replying to @aral

        An IPO is not an entirely terrible option.

        0 replies 0 retweets 0 likes
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