Ok, we’ve crossed 25,000,000 views on Quora! Thank you to everyone for being a partner to this community! That’s up from 20m in February and 10m about 11 months ago.
I really don’t know much about social media, but here’s what I do know:
- What’s worked for us: Quora, SaaStr.com blog, Twitter. And it’s new, but Harry’s SaaStr Podcast is off to a strong start, having already cracked the Top 20 podcasts on iTunes for business.
- What hasn’t: Medium. Flipboard (even though I love Flipboard. Ah well).
- TBD / Jury is out: LinkedIn. Email newsletter (we have ~20k subs, but doesn’t perform all that well). Product Hunt.
As part of our tradition, we’re listing below the most popular answers and posts on Quora with view counts. We’ve taken out a few that aren’t on point.
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What should everyone know about mergers and acquisitions?
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Can you make over $1 million a year only by being an entrepreneur or a C-Suite executive?
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Are the billion dollar payouts for executives justified? Why?
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What is the single biggest mistake entrepreneurs make when starting up?
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From the perspective of a CEO, what are the most underrated skills most employees lack?
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Elon Musk’s enterprises seem to be advancing ridiculously fast where others are stagnant. Why?
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Is Microsoft’s layoff a one-off case or are there other major tech companies likely to follow suit?
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Where do most web startups fail?
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How does Aaron Levie feel knowing he is down to a 4% stake heading into the Box IPO?
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What should you do if a large competitor says, “Sell to us or we’ll crush you?”
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Is getting rich worth it?
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Quora has raised $160m, having burned through at least $60m, with another $100m recently raised. Why do they need so much capital?
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Is Marissa Mayer waiting to be fired so she can vest her Yahoo compensation package (Jan 2016)?
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Why do founders get fired?
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As a CEO, what is an example of a good day and of a bad one?
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What’s the dark side of Silicon Valley?
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What do people in Silicon Valley plan to do once they are over 35?
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How are people able to afford purchasing a home in Palo Alto?
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Does the CEO need to know code?
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What startup investors have really bad reputations?
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Is Elon Musk more revolutionary and remarkable than Steve Jobs and Bill Gates?
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Why are VCs so adamant about warm intros?
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How could a software company with no revenues, little barriers to entry, and only 12 team members be bought for $100M?
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What are some of the lesser-known, unwritten rules of the Valley, as they pertain to startups?
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What did you do immediately after selling your company?
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Why is free food such a big deal to well-paid Silicon Valley tech employees?
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What are great questions to ask about a startup company during a job interview?
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What percentage of entrepreneurs who exit at $100MM+ go on to found another startup vs. doing venture or retiring?
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How much does a VC make?
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What are the most common regrets that venture capitalists have?
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Is “Don’t open a 150 IQ business if you’re a 125 IQ person.” good advice for starting entrepreneurs?
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What is a day like for a startup founder when the company is at its infancy, 6 months old, 1 year, and 3 year old?
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How much equity should a founder keep?
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Can you reject the job offer that you already accepted?
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How do I prepare myself to become a successful startup CEO?
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How do founders pay their bills after they quit their full time jobs but are still seeking for investment in their startups?
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Is entrepreneurship overhyped and glorified?
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What methods are employed by VCs to screw founders and engineers?
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How many hours per week does a venture capitalist expect startup founders to work?
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How do you survive your first year as a startup?
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Why do investors want 20-25% of a startup?
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What is a typical commission for a sales professional selling software as a services (SaaS)?
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Why are companies such as Uber, Airbnb, Snapchat, Dropbox, etc. still called startups?
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Why haven’t there been improvements to battery technology recently?
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What did you learn from your startup experience?
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Why do so many people hate their jobs?
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What do the top 1% of sales people (software/SaaS) do that the other 99% don’t?
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How long does it take to get paid cash after an acquisition?
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Is Kevin Systrom kicking himself for selling Instagram too early?
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As the CEO of an angel funded (no VCs) SaaS startup doing $3M in revenue a year and profitable, is it acceptable to ask for a salary of $250K?
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Silicon Valley Salaries: What are the details of your compensation package?
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As a venture capitalist, what’s been one of the best/most impressive things you’ve heard from an entrepreneur during a pitch?
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Generally speaking, why do VCs take full salaries and expect startup executives to take as little as possible?
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Do lawyers make good start-up founders?
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What is the significance of WhatsApp for Facebook? Why did Facebook acquire WhatsApp at such a hefty price of $19 billion?
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What must every entrepreneur working on a SaaS/B2B startup know?
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How did you know it was time to sell your start-up instead of using financing to grow it further?
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I have a startup company. I feel my marketing team does not make enough efforts. Should I fire the team?
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Why is Starbucks closing La Boulange?
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Why was Martin Eberhard forced out of Tesla Motors?
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How can a single parent with a mortgage live off the $80,000 salary expected of startup founders?
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How do Venture Capital Firms really feel about founder salaries? I was told that a general rule of thumb is 75% of fair market value. I am considering taking on a well established, rather expensive co-founder.
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What happens when a Tesla car crashes?
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What is the nicest thing you’ve ever done that nobody knew about until you revealed it here?
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What are some awesome questions to ask a CEO of a startup during an interview?
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What is an interesting fact about Tesla Motors?
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Why are venture capitalists usually the biggest a**holes?
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Under what circumstances should a board fire the CEO?
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What is it like to be a start-up founder?
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Can I hear about more startups that are successful but don’t get all the press?
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What co-founder could make me a millionaire in four years if I started a company with them today?
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Why do venture capitalists replace founders of startups?
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Are we in a tech bubble (late 2015/early 2016)?
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What’s an experience that everyone raves about, but for you it just wasn’t that great?
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Silicon Valley:
If Elon Musk can manage 3 companies, why is Jack Dorsey having such a hard time from the media when it comes to directing both Twitter and Square?
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What is the best strategy for dramatically increasing the price of a SaaS product without angering customers?
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I like my job and boss a lot, but I am underpaid. I received an offer from a competing firm for 30% more. How should I use this to increase my current pay, given that I have no intention to quit and don’t want to harm my current relationship with my manager?
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Has Dropbox raised too much money? Is there a risk they won’t be able to IPO?
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My girlfriend is asking me to choose between my startup and her. What should I do?
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What are the best questions to ask a VP of Sales during an interview?
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As CEO, how do you tell people what you do for work without sounding boastful?
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What are some of the habits entrepreneurs have that other people don’t?
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What should all first time entrepreneurs know before starting their very first business?
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What 3 pearls of wisdom would you give a 1st time CEO of a small technology startup (product yet to be launched)?
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What are the most ridiculous things VCs have said to you?
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When pitching to an investor, how does one answer the question: “What’s to stop Facebook from just implementing this feature?”
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How should equity be split between founders, (early) employees, consultants and investors when the company is bootstrapped?
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What is the best way to deal with a VC who became very “annoying” after investing and taking a board seat, and adds more problems than solutions for a startup?
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Were the Airbnb founders ethical in getting a common stock dividend to cash out $21M for themselves without dilution?
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A potential investor just asked to see my SWOT analysis. Is this normal?
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Why isn’t Apple making more acquisitions?
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What topics of discussion are considered taboo among entrepreneurs and investors in Silicon Valley and why?
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Google has been able to disrupt many companies like Dropbox, Apple, etc. Which startups and larger companies has Google not been able to disrupt?
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Why don’t more VC firms share their results openly rather than just with their LPs?
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What are typical exit revenue multiples for SaaS companies (at sub $5mm, $5-10mm, $10mm+)?
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When should a startup get acquired?
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Is over 50 too old to be an entrepreneur?
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What are some best practices for SaaS lead generation?
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What do you do when someone who was helping you in your startup in an advisory role asks for 10% in equity as compensation?
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Why do software engineers make so much?
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Why did Tesla Motors decide to pay back its $465 million loan from the Energy Department early?
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What are some of Tesla Motors’ major innovations?
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What are the signs of an entrepreneur who is over-prepared for meetings with investors?
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What do most people not know about startup sales?
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Which startups were acquired before their launch?
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What’s the “best” thing you have heard an entrepreneur say about start-up life?
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What can a startup do to get their customers to pay on time?
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How do you stay hungry?
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Statistically speaking, how many startups would a person need to start, before making $10M+ on a successful exit?
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How much equity do unicorns founders typically have?
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I’m 20 years of age and I’m meeting with a Managing Director of a large VC firm. What advice can you give me?
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How do people financially manage to leave a big company and create a startup?
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How much should an average partner at a medium size venture capital firm expect to make in a given year?
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How much commission should I give to a fund raiser in a startup?
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How many hours/week do you work as a director, VP, CXO, or CEO?
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How bad is it to quit as cofounder right before we close a large seed round?
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Is a $100k salary too much for an angel/VC-backed startup co-founder raising $500k?
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Outside of the compensation, what’s so great about being CEO?
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What is the experience of being a founder (and/or employee) after making an exit of >10-100M$?
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At what point should founders take a salary from their startup?
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Why has salesforce.com never turned profitable?
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What are some best kept secrets of Adobe?
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As a startup founder, what’s the best way to announce your departure to the team and leave on good terms?
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Why do so many Silicon Valley entrepreneurs talk about their startups in a pompous and grandiose fashion?
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Is it better to dress up (professionalism) or down (show indifference) for a VC meeting?
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What is the better way to start my career: Uber or Zenefits?
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How can a young person be taken seriously with a enterprise software-as-service startup?
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In a buyout of a private company, why do CEO’s get a disproportionate amount of money compared to the rest of the employees?
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How can an outsider figure out how well a startup is doing?
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Is the Tesla Model S worth its price?
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What are some things about venture capital and venture capitalists that could be made fun of?
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What were the most ridiculous startup ideas that eventually became successful?
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What’s it like working at a VC firm?
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How do you choose who should be the CEO when you have a co-founder?
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Why did GoodData stop showing their pricing page?
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What are some of the oddest employee perks in Silicon Valley?
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How do VCs view the CEOs of startups who draw six-figure salaries and drive expensive sports cars when the company hasn’t made a dime and isn’t doing well? Is this common?
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Are there any investors who still think that the salary that a founder should have is zero?
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How do I know when to quit trying to make a business work?
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What should a startup founder do if a potential investor is rude or difficult?
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How hard is it for a startup founder/CEO to settle in a non-CEO role after an acquisition?
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Which large shareholders and board members made the decision to remove Mark Pincus as CEO of Zynga?
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Should Drew Houston sell Dropbox while he has the chance?
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What is it like to be a partner at a venture capital firm?
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What happens to employees after your startup gets acquired?
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What are some must-knows about starting a SaaS business from scratch?
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Why is every tech company raising millions of dollars? Doesn’t anyone bootstrap to exit anymore?
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About what pre-money range should I be looking at for my three-year-old SaaS startup doing $1M ARR ($1.8M total rev) growing 100% year over year?
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What are some drawbacks of getting a VC to fund your startup?
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What are your biggest regrets when starting a company? Culture, scaling, hiring, marketing, etc.
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Which is that one risk you took in professional life and it ultimately led to your great success?
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How do you know if a “potential” acquirer is actually interested in your company or if they are just trying to take a look at your books or have other ulterior motives?
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Does cold-emailing VC firms ever work?
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What is the biggest mistake you made in your 30s and what did you learn from it?
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How do I survive in already crowded market (without any new innovative product offering) as entrepreneur?
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What do other VC funds think of Andreessen-Horowitz?
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How do relatively small startups get big name companies as clients?
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What startups do we still need?
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Can you sell something that people don’t need?
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Do CEOs use their company’s products?
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Why is Ferrari going public?
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There are a lot of examples of VCs screwing entrepreneurs. What are some examples of entrepreneurs screwing VCs?
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What are the best-kept secrets about startups?
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How important is it that the founders/CEO have over 51% equity?
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I’ve been proposed to be the CEO of a 1 year old startup with a team of 20 people. What are the organizational/team challenges I’ll be facing?
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What lessons have been taken away from the ‘dot com crash’?
