One thing that has made us so successful is that we've never taken outside investment. That means we can concentrate on what our customers want - not what the stockholders or the VCs want.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
Understand that VCs are simply a sophisticated form of financial investors who, in turn, need to satisfy their own investors.
One of the biggest mistakes entrepreneurs make is not understanding the relationship they have with their investors. At times, they confuse VCs with their friends.
We expect all our businesses to have a positive impact on our top and bottom lines. Profitability is very important to us or we wouldn't be in this business.
Many entrepreneurs have shifted their focus to pursuing VC funding as a primary strategic priority instead of concentrating on generating value for their users. This is worrisome because raising capital alone is misleading as a benchmark for success.
Once investors come in, it's hardly your company anymore!
We worked personally with a lot of great VCs. They just work incredibly hard at supporting entrepreneurs and their companies.
I started Shutterstock without any outside funding; I believe in creating a lean startup. By not taking outside investors early, I was forced to use every dollar I had as efficiently as possible. And I was able to keep a large part of the company.
Any time an investment company has to spend heavily on advertising, it's probably a bad business in which to invest.
Investors have to ask themselves two questions. How much can we grow our investments? And, can we afford our mistakes?
In every business I had ever started, even ones that had totally failed, I had kept good relations with the investors.