Totally agree that the financial models are a sanity check. In a way, I guess that’s my point in the post as well.

It’s not “sane” for people pitching early stage VCs to be suggesting they’ll be cash-flow positive in 18 months. It’s a signal that the entrepreneur doesn’t understand the venture capital model or why they should be seeking funding, which, in turn, is a signal that the entrepreneur might be young/inexperienced.

Is it a complete dealbreaker for a potential investor? Probably not. But it should certainly set off some alarm bells.

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I teach entrepreneurship at Duke. Software Engineer. PhD in English. I write about the mistakes entrepreneurs make since I’ve made plenty. More @ aarondinin.com

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Aaron Dinin, PhD

I teach entrepreneurship at Duke. Software Engineer. PhD in English. I write about the mistakes entrepreneurs make since I’ve made plenty. More @ aarondinin.com