Until then -- take one misstep, miss one quarter and he or she will take you down if they have someone else “better” to put in. Turn around and you’ll notice they’ve placed some of their “guys” in your company who report behind your back to the investors. They stack your board. All around you and they have a “guy”, you think this person is your advisor... but really they’ve been brought in by your resentful investor to see if this person wants your job. Because they don’t trust you, when you are too greedy. So. Leave a few nickels on the table. Or if you don’t, if you push it past that point... then at least make sure enough of the nickels go in your back pocket so it doesn’t hurt too much on your way out. 21. Is Y Combinator asking too much equity for 120k worth of funding? Here’s my learning. I’ve invested in 4 YC companies. I’ve met with about 20, maybe a few more than that. I ask all the founders I meet that have been through various “accelerators” if it was worth it because as a 2x founder myself I see all of this as expensive. With accelerators (or whatever you call them) founders generally pause, qualify their answer. “Was OK. Was fine. Was worth it, yeah, because we knew nothing.” Unless it’s YC. No matter what their criticisms or thoughts are -- especially as the classes have gotten large and diverse in types of companies -- they all say it was 100% worth it and have no regrets on the equity side. So there you go. 22. How do CEOs stay calm? You must fake it. You cannot let anyone see you look like you are losing control. Ever. Once they see that ... they will lose faith. You need help. SAASTR.COM 18