VC Cliché of the Week

This week I am going to talk about counting the chickens before they hatch.

In a market like we are in, it’s easy to start doing the victory dance in the third inning. It’s a bad idea.

Sure there are the occasional early home runs and they are great when they happen, but most often it takes a long time, up to ten years, to build something of real value in the startup/VC business.

And so when you hit a milestone like launching your first product, getting your first revenue, making your first montly profit, getting financed at a big valuation, going public, or some other meaningful moment, it’s important not to lose sight of the fact that these are just milestones on a long journey.

The payday, particularly if you are shooting for a big one, takes a long long time. It’s a marathon, not a sprint. Most people won’t make the entire journey.

And as so many web 1.0 entrepreneurs learned the hard way, you can lose it all in a very short period if things turn against you.

So celebrate the milestones, but not too hard. When you count your chickens before they hatch, they often don’t.