Managing Startups: Best Blog Posts

Chapter 70. The Series A Crunch Survivor’s Guide

Jason Calacanis

I got a ton of feedback on my email from Christmas Day titled “There Is No Series A Crunch.”

If headlines, and people’s attention spans for them, allowed for more complete arguments, the headline could have been expanded to: “There Is No Series A Crunch for Startups with These Characteristics....”

Besides, headlines are best when they seduce you with only partial information. What’s the fun of getting all the facts in one line and moving on with your life (like we’re doing with the LAUNCH ticker)? ;-)

Much of the feedback I’ve gotten came from both sides of the table: founders and investors, and of course some bloggers and “social media experts.” Of course, social media experts should be renamed “people who talk a magnitude more than their experience entitles them to,” but I digress.

This is specifically to founders who are not able to raise a Series A. If you’re an investor, you can’t read this.

OK my founders, time for some #realtalk. If you can’t raise a Series A, you’ve learned it’s probably because of some combination of the following:

1. Your team lacks a track record.

2. Your product execution is not competitive with other products investors are seeing.

3. You lack product traction.

4. The market you’re addressing is not big or “important” enough.

5. You’re fishing in a recently poisoned pond (e.g., the deal space pioneered by Groupon).

6. Your valuation doesn’t match reality.

7. Your burn is unjustified, ...