Dan Siroker is the founder and CEO of Limitless and former founder of Optimizely. He discusses founder accountability and investor responsibilities on 20VC.
“The one thing that really kills me is when I see a founder playing the victim here and say, well, my investors didn't help me enough. Like, That's not their job. Their job is to give you money and hopefully do no harm.”
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More from Dan Siroker
AssertionSupported
Siroker: Top VC funds will break ownership minimums for hot startups
“Yeah, the best investors benchmark and recent, they will invest less than their supposed minimums for the right company.”
Dan SirokerMay 15, 2024▶ 29:43Dan Siroker: Second-Time Founders Are More Investable & Why Not To Hire People Out of College |E1153 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Disclosure
Siroker: Limitless rejected 22 $1B offers to accept a $350M Series A
“We had offers, actually, we had 22 offers at a billion dollars. We turned them down and took 350.”
Dan SirokerMay 15, 2024▶ 37:51Dan Siroker: Second-Time Founders Are More Investable & Why Not To Hire People Out of College |E1153 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Insight
Siroker: Successful startups show glimmers of hope very fast
“Things that work tend to work really fast. You know, it was kind of this anti-pattern. Most people would say, well, you got to stick it out and be perseverance and, you know, keep, you know, banging your head against an idea and you have to keep executing it. …”
Dan SirokerMay 15, 2024▶ 4:33Dan Siroker: Second-Time Founders Are More Investable & Why Not To Hire People Out of College |E1153 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Insight
Siroker: First-Time Founders Brag About Headcount; Serial Founders Brag About Lean Teams
“First time founders brag about how many employees they have, second time founders brag about how few employees they have.”
Dan SirokerMay 15, 2024▶ 7:29Dan Siroker: Second-Time Founders Are More Investable & Why Not To Hire People Out of College |E1153 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Insight
Siroker: Sales reps should expand organic product pull, not do cold outbound
“I would say when you feel market pull, when you feel the market, like I gave the example of Starbucks, you know, they're going past all of the processes, they're going past all, like they're seeking forgiveness, not permission to use your product. You're seein…”
Dan SirokerMay 15, 2024▶ 18:47Dan Siroker: Second-Time Founders Are More Investable & Why Not To Hire People Out of College |E1153 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Insight
Siroker: Job candidates bringing up titles in interviews is a red flag
“One thing I'll say about titles that I unequivocally believe is that if this is a something that a candidate brings up early or even during the interview process at all, it is a pretty red flag. It shows you kind of what their values are. The best people I've …”
Dan SirokerMay 15, 2024▶ 22:11Dan Siroker: Second-Time Founders Are More Investable & Why Not To Hire People Out of College |E1153 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
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