“Every startup ends up in the ICU at least once, and pays a visit to the emergency room at least once a year.”
—Beth Seidenberg, Kleiner Perkins
Author, Investor, Speaker, Mentor
“Every startup ends up in the ICU at least once, and pays a visit to the emergency room at least once a year.”
—Beth Seidenberg, Kleiner Perkins
The “startup” I’m at has been in the ICU at least three times since I’ve been here, and is there again. The problem is we make just enough money to stay in business, but not enough money to make anyone rich – and we haven’t been in a “sexy” field (although we’re developing a reputation as a “green software” play).
But we’ve got damn good technology which has gone through enough iterations that it’s fairly mature and solid. And several huge companies are sniffing closely, which helps keep us going.
(I use “startup” in quotes since I’ve been here six years now. We’re also an odd company since the average age of our company is closer to 50 than 30 – and that’s a Good Thing.)
One of the benefits of having experienced people in your startup is they tend not to panic during the inevitable ER and ICU visits.
When working closely with first-timers, I always find myself having to say things like, “This isn’t the end of the world,” or “Let’s think about this a bit before we do anything.”