Seeing Both Sides: Dr. Seuss and The Land Of No

Seeing Both Sides: Dr. Seuss and The Land Of No "Start-ups are like giant experiments. You make a few assumptions, add a few ingredients and see what happens over time. VCs prefer to invest in start-ups where the assumptions are clear, the experiment being run is discrete and not too costly, and where the outcomes can be easily measured over a reasonably brief period of time. A new company that requires $20M and four years to prove out whether the key technical or market assumptions are correct isn't very fashionable nowadays. Companies that require $4M and twelve months to prove out the three key assumptions, and then a well-defined set of milestones that will be achieved during the first phase of the experiment, are obviously far more appealing."