Fuck Survival: If You Ain’t in It for the Money Then Get Out the Game

Get your money right
Don’t be worried about the other man
Make sure your business tight

I plan to write a more detailed post about the “don’t blame the venture capitalists” bullshit that has been floating around as “the community” starts to rethink the “we don’t need to worry about a business model” nonsense that has permeated Silicon Valley over the past several years.

In the meantime, I thought I’d briefly weigh in on another related subject: that of “survival.”

As it is now clear that the economy is in for some rought times, everybody’s talking about “survival.” Venture capitalist Fred Wilson wrote “It’s all about acting responsibly and making sure we all survive to fight another day” and Michael Arrington provided a brilliant metaphor:

Just like a bear in the woods (I imagine) has to slow its activity in the Winter as food supplies dwindle, startups need to go into cash conservation mode to increase their chances of survival when the market slows. They need to be prepared for a hit in revenue, and they know they can’t necessarily go to the capital markets to get money to stay in business.

What do I think? Pure bullshit.

Ask yourself: what is the point of trying to survive in the worst of times when you were merely surviving in the best of times? If you’re not making any money when the glass is filled with froth, what exactly do you hope to accomplish when the glass is almost entirely empty?

Let’s be intellectually honest here. For all the billions of dollars that have been invested in hundreds (if not thousands) of Web 2.0 startups over the past 4 years, how many actually make more money than a general contractor? How many have gone public? How many have sold for 10 figures? How many for 9? How many for 8?

The reality is that most of these startups are dead but just don’t know it yet. There is no revenue for the majority of them because there isn’t a scalable business model waiting to be “discovered.” There is no IPO because there is no revenue and thus no opportunity for profit. There is probably no acquisition potential because there aren’t enough buyers fools to go around.

For these startups, thinking that somehow things will be different when we emerge from this economic clusterfuck is delusion at its best. “Surviving to fight another day” is a pointless exercise when you’re already laying on the ground in a puddle of your own piss and blood with a black eye, a shattered jaw and a busted rib cage.

In April, I advised “Don’t Batten Down The Hatches on a Shit Business” and wrote:

Cost structure is very important during an economic downturn but revenue and business models are still extremely important as well.

Why? A company that lacks a business model and can’t generate sufficient revenue when times are good doesn’t accomplish anything by battening down the hatches when times are bad. It will enter the downturn as company that really isn’t going anywhere and it will exit the downturn as a company that really isn’t going anywhere.

The bottom line is that rain or shine, it’s always about money for true “players.” If you’re an entrepreneur and wake up every day trying to “survive” instead of trying to earn a profit, you might as well find a new profession.

I have never met a lawyer who doesn’t work for the billable hours. I have never met a farmer who loves his job because it encourages him to get up early in the morning. I have never met an executive at an oil company whose hobby is drilling holes in the ground. I have never met a fisherman who doesn’t care about the catch. I have never met a real estate agent who just likes showing off pretty homes.

And I have never met a true entrepreneur who wasn’t in the game to make money.

What does that mean? It means that all of these so-called entrepreneurs who are battening down the hatches trying to ride out the storm in hopes that they’ll “surive to fight another day” aren’t true entrepreneurs.

They’re VC-subsidized gamblers. Sure, they hope that Google will eventually buy them for a few hundred million. But in the meantime, a VC-subsidized six-figure salary coupled with benefits and perks isn’t so bad.

These people have about as much entrepreneurial instinct as Robert Scoble has insight. And that’s exactly why you can count the number of 10 and 9-figure Web 2.0 acquisitions with your fingers.

And while VCs like Fred Wilson are instructing startups to enter suvival mode, I suggest their employees start looking for new jobs.

As Jay-Z says, “If you ain’t in it for the money then get out the game.”

For the Web 2.0 entrepreneurs who don’t have profitable, self-sustaining businesses, it’s time to get the fuck out of the game.