Startups got less investment funding in 2016 Investments in new Bay Area startupsfell 25 percent in 2016compared with a year earlier, according to a MoneyTree Report. Analysts say the market needed to cool off after hitting a high in 2015 that was unsustainable.(San Jose Mercury News)
I rather doubt it, during new year's Shark Tank marathon they had a Stanford MBA who had raised $ from the valley VCs for her lingerie line to be sold online without even a business plan and when she came on the Shark Tank for round 2 they laughed her out of the tank IE there is too much money sloshing around the valley. The valley has two problems 1) VCs are fighting to be the first in on an idea 2) they are just throwing money hoping it sticks and perhaps now they are realizing they have created a low return environment and are pulling back a bit. http://sharktankblog.com/business/naja/
Her startup idea was selling lingerie online exclusively. I don't remember her family connections to apparel manufacturing or employing single Colombian mothers was not mentioned on the Shark Tank.
Ah,i see...No chance,then.That 500K wouldn`t be enough for the advertising alone.Masterclasses for single Colombian mothers - maybe.
Sorry but you really couldn't be more wrong here. First, the Shark Tank you saw on Naja was a rerun from the beginning of 2015. Naja is doing very well now two years later(www.naja.com), employing dozens in the U.S. and Columbia, making the founder and her team money, and doing some good in the world. So your basic premise that you somehow need a "qualification" to be an entrepreneur was proven incorrect in your specific example. More generally, it's funny as an entrepreneur to hear these armchair warriors talk down about "qualifications" and "too much money" as if they are moral imperatives. I was a military pilot when I started a successful fintech company 10 years ago, who the hell did I think I was and where were my "qualifications"? Dealmaker definitely wouldn't approve! I probably wouldn't have been hired in an entry level position by the companies I later edged out, run by a bunch of dealmaker clones. There are literally thousands of successful startups with founders who wouldn't meet a dealmaker "qualification" test in the industry or niche they successfully disrupted, that's basically what an entrepreneur is! BTW, what is your industry, sounds like it's ripe for disruption? I'd also ask if you've ever pitched to a VC? Because we went through a stage where I pitched a number of times, with a three year old company making money and dominating our niche. Still didn't get funding (fortunately, as my more experienced self looks back). If there was some secret Stanford MBA handshake that gets you unlimited VC money with any random idea I must have been sleeping when they passed it out. Would be interested to hear your experiences in this area? Literally thousands of solid companies get funded every year, most aren't unicorns or names you see on TV. You and I probably wouldn't "get" the majority of them, and yet thousands of them succeed and a few succeed spectacularly. The VC industry continues to attract funding based on their returns, and the top tier funds (which ironically are the ones investing in the unicorns) continue to produce outsized returns. To make some moral judgement about "too much money sloshing around the valley" based on watching (what you didn't know where) reruns on (what you didn't know) went on to be a successful company on shark tank is perhaps not the best way to form opinions about parts of the world you aren't familiar with?