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Reflecting on My Failure to Build a Billion-Dollar Company

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2101 points jamesjyu | 2 comments | 07 Feb 19 15:28 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source
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phkahler ◴[07 Feb 19 19:21 UTC] No.19107658[source]▶
I struggle to see how this story is one of failure. A kid launched a business that is still going 8 years later. He learned that VC funding is a double edged sword and was able to shed some of that burden - buying them out for $1. In the beginning he speaks of building this thing and having it be his lifes work - which it may well be if he keeps going. And yet there was all this talk of being a billion dollar company and an IPO - which is actually as exit strategy. I was floored by the notion that only 20 percent monthly growth was a red flag. 'du fuk you people think you're doing? Launching a rocket? Oh right... SV, VC, etc...

In the end this guy learned a bunch of hard lessons about business, finance, and life. I hope he continues at least until he finds a new adventure, and stops calling it a failure. It may turn out to be exactly what he said he wanted in the beginning: "what I thought would be my life’s work."

replies(2): >>19107807 #>>19107939 #
1. rement ◴[07 Feb 19 19:36 UTC] No.19107807[source]▶
He "failed" to build a billion dollar company.
replies(1): >>19108972 #
2. adventured ◴[07 Feb 19 21:55 UTC] No.19108972[source]▶
The most interesting thing about the setup premise, is that it should have a "yet" attached to it somewhere.

Unless something terrible has happened in the last few months, their recent November 2018 numbers indicate that at a continued reasonable rate of growth over another decade, they'll have a sizable business and a large number of creators utilizing it (which is one of his goals). It would be worth at least a hundred million dollars. If the growth spikes upward even a bit on average (maybe they garner more interest with scale or the market expands faster), it could get them to between a $500m and $1b valuation a decade out. Modest compounded growth with even a small kicker, from where they're already at, will produce a big outcome over time. So he'd be a sub 40 year old with an extremely valuable company and a lot of people that use what he created (and which I assume he owns a large part of at this juncture).

Given time and their history of slow but steady growth, Gum is more likely than not to produce a homerun. The continued growth over many years is a stellar signal that they're already winning as a business. You can get there slow or fast. The VCs want it fast, Sahil can afford to take his time, he's still quite young and Gum is his.