LaFleur: Publicizing startup fundraising totals has a dark side
Sarah LaFleur · M.M.LaFleur: Sarah LaFleur · Feb 3, 2020 · at 1:04:51
Sarah LaFleur is the founder and CEO of apparel brand M.M.LaFleur. She discusses why she refuses to publicly disclose the total amount of venture funding the company has raised.
0:00 / 0:08exact quote · 8.6s
720p mp4 · rendered on demand · StarZero watermark
“There's a real dark side to talking about how much money you've raised, and I think what happens often in startup culture is that, that is what you become known for.”
quote is from the automated transcript, cleaned for reading: filler sounds and stutters are removed, nothing is rephrased. names can be misheard (the analysis reads context, assessments check outside sources). how →
More from Sarah LaFleur
Sarah LaFleur: Email is a declining channel due to inbox saturation
“Email, first of all, I think is just a declining channel. And that's like just the hard truth. It's not that people don't read emails anymore, but it's people get so many of them every single day that it's impossible to keep in track.”
LaFleur: Professional women's apparel is a $100B–$120B market
“There are thirty million women, age 25 to 45, who work in some sort of corporate environment, and these women spend, on average, for women making 75 K and up, 4000 dollars a year on clothes to wear to work, and so that's roughly a hundred to a hundred twenty b…”
LaFleur: Advising cash-strapped founders to avoid certain investors is unhelpful
“Telling other entrepreneurs, like, don't just take anyone's money, or be really careful who you take money from. That's all well and good when you've got cash in the bank. When you don't it's really unhelpful advice, because it's true, you really want to make …”
LaFleur: Publicizing funding amounts creates an unhealthy startup culture identity
“We don't disclose it, and it's so funny because I think there's a real dark side to talking about how much money you've raised, and I think what happens often in startup culture is that, that is what you become known for.”
LaFleur: Entrepreneurial success is 99% luck
“Oh it's 99% luck. I always go back to that experience I had in Zambia. It is mostly luck. Being born to the right parents at the right time.”
LaFleur: Advising cash-strapped founders to be picky about investors is unhelpful
“Telling other entrepreneurs, like, don't just take anyone's money, or be really careful who you take money from. That's all well and good when you've got cash in the bank. When you don't it's really unhelpful advice, because it's true, you really want to make …”