16 Comments
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James's avatar

Didn’t Amazon have deep pockets with a $300,000 investment from his parents?

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Chris Tottman's avatar

I don't know the deets but $300k wasn't big in the 90s. My first raise was $1m in 96 (followed by 2 more Rounds) and that returned 35x by 2008. I'd love to have a slice of that Amazon $300k now 🤯

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James's avatar

Eh, I’d still consider it big for unconditional support from parents. But yes, I guess I have to agree with you. Haha, his parents are billionaires too!

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Chris Tottman's avatar

That first cheque used to be the hardest. pre seed and seed is relatively easy for a top founding team with a strong thesis. Now it's the 3rd cheque that can kill you off 🥵

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Wambui Mwangi's avatar

I enjoyed reading this . I will link it somewhere in my publications!

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Chris Tottman's avatar

So glad you liked it. It's part of a series under the working title "The OS for Running A Small Business" - this was #4. Thanks for tagging it ⭐ made me 😁

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Luis Llorens's avatar

Do you think that with AI, there will be more bootstrapped entrepreneurs?📈

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Chris Tottman's avatar

💯 - the concentration of talent within the biggest tech and fin services businesses will fragment into 100s of hyper scalers with high growth low employees rations.

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Michael Spencer's avatar

I like the idea of early stage guides. I will have to bookmark this.

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Chris Tottman's avatar

It's an emerging series we're creating - The OS for Running A Small Business 🌟 so follow/subscribe to capture them all 💲

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Hugo Rauch's avatar

👏👏

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Chris Tottman's avatar

👏

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Robert Ta's avatar

Investors bring money, but grit builds empires.

The most successful founders aren’t those who start big, but those who start smart.

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Chris Tottman's avatar

Wise Words 🌟 Thanks for sharing 🙏

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Guillermo Flor's avatar

Awesome!

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Chris Tottman's avatar

Most Founders are unfunded 🌟 seems such an important piece and we enjoyed writing it

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