Inc. Magazine is a Romance Novel for Business Nerds.

“Romancing entrepreneurship is like romanticising people who fly 150,000 miles a year. When you’re successful, it’s all worth it. And when you’re in the middle and fighting those battles and you have those small wins, it’s super exhilarating. But it’s a form of gambling and you’re gambling with your career, and you’re gambling with your family, and you’re gambling with your life. And I don’t know that gambling should be romanticised ... I’ve never done a Series A. I’ve done 2 seed rounds. That’s the most funding I’ve done in my entire career. ….I“It becomes too much about raising money is seen as successful because with the money comes the power – I can hire people, I can acquire, I can do stuff. But the money is a poison because the money can also bring complacency."

Transcript:

WHURLEY

Romancing entrepreneurship is like romanticising people who fly 150,000 miles a year. When you’re successful, it’s all worth it. And when you’re in the middle and fighting those battles and you have those small wins, it’s super exhilarating. But it’s a form of gambling and you’re gambling with your career, and you’re gambling with your family, and you’re gambling with your life. And I don’t know that gambling should be romanticised

Stephen

In episode six have a Whurley describes,how risky the life of an entrepreneur is - although he embraces risk, he believes we should go in with our eyes open. He makes the case for Austin as the greatest city in the world to start a business and talks about the advantages to being an Eisenhower fellow as he travels around Germany and Japan.WHURLEY

You know, I was just that at this event, right before TOA… these guys like, you know, saying 'I raised 200,000,000 dollars in  blah blah blah blah'.  I asked what happened to the company? Oh, you know, eventually it folded this and that… to me that's even more horrible. I mean, I would never want to say ... I mean I've only raised for one company raised 3,000,000 dollars for Honest Dollar and that obviously worked out great. I've now raised 4,000,000 in a seed for Strangeworks. To be determined.

But, you know, you raise the 3,000,000 for Honest Dollar. And I was the whole time ... was like ... we 3,000,000 dollars in debt. But if we do a series A ...  I've never done a series A. I don't want to go into debt ....  I've only raised 2 seed wounds - that's the most funding in my entire career. I believe, you know the  entrepreneurs credo ... to use it up, wear it out, make do, or do without. That should be, you know, the… the… the Bible, I think for entrepreneurs. Because it becomes too much about raising money and can create complacency in the company. I know how long 4,000,000 dollars will last - to the day ... and I will remind everybody in the company how many days we have left until we run out of this oxygen. That is this money in the startup. I want them to be painfully aware of that. ......Inc magazine's a romance novel for business nerds ...