Kak
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The best investments are in people that don't need investments.
Once, a few years ago, @Kak was at a lunch meeting, when the guy took out his checkbook and wrote out a check (a check!) for $500k. I can't remember if he took it or not, but if memory serves (as I am getting old) I think he (KAK) passed.
Yeah, I basically passed.
It was a woman and her son... Family acquaintances. They somehow felt entitled to my company, which rubs me wrong. They acted as if they could just buy their way in if they so desired. The woman was kind of nice, but her son thought he knew everything.
The offer was $500k. I already had plenty of money in the business account and nothing to deploy their money on so I said... "Ok, I will take it at a $10m valuation and THIS is why." I proceeded to tell it like it is. Listed the headwinds, tailwinds and the potential given some big contracts.
Was the company worth 10m at the time? No, it wasn't, and I told them that. The stock I am going to give up for no real operational reason, while things are going great, is going to be expensive. I still thought in the long run they would get a solid ROI.
Those were my terms... They could take or leave them. They felt like they still deserved market price. I said you can't just hostile takeover a private company. They became troublemaker investors to someone else's venture.
We were there on MY terms. If MY terms weren't met, there wouldn't be a deal. They BEGGED me to go to lunch. So I went to hear them out and told it like it was. I even paid.
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