We raise more cash so that we can hire more people so that we can raise more cash so that we can hire more people. The thirst for more capital is real and intense and sometimes silly, and makes me wonder when the size of a man’s… uh, capital raise… became the early stage measure of success. My theory is that entrepreneurs should only raise as much cash as they can responsibly spend (which is often less than they think that they need) and should measure their own early-stage performance like gas mileage or a golf score: the ratio of progress to cash. If you give them cash, they’ll find some way to spend it and each additional dollar is spent with decreasing wisdom… a sort of decreasing marginal utility of cash. I think that startup companies operate the same way. If I give them $20, they spend it, but if I give them $50, they spend it. I got the idea from my children, who are what I call cash-insentitive. I cash starved BluPanda for years, raising only enough capital each month to pay the bills, with nothing left over for new hires. In remembrance of my Calvinist upbringing, I can make a penny weep tiny copper tears as my nimble fingers stretch its shiny orb to cover a heaven of needs. Frugality is the genius of accomplishing much with little. ![]() ![]() God created me to realize my vision on a shoe string budget… not to be cheap, stingy, or miserly… but clever in the application of resource. Frugality includes all the other virtues – Cicero
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