Press cycles about million-dollar fund-raises and billion-dollar valuations are short-lived and targeted at aspiring entrepreneurs, not people like your customers. Building your audience that way doesn’t work, because a months-old startup has nothing to say, besides that a few rich people gave them some money. Trust me, I know.

Livingston: Why did del.icio.us succeed? Schachter: First of all, because it was not a venture to start. I was building a product and that's it. Livingston: Did the others fail because they had too much money? Schachter: I think in general being overcapitalized is a path to failure. The VCs want you to spend. There are general ills with being overf

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