• In a world where everybody reads, appreciates, worships the likes of Steve Jobs.
  • In a world where everybody claims “fake it until you make it”, where everybody is pushing the limits of ethics selling what they don’t have, hoping that they will be able to deliver before the hell brakes loose.
  • In a world where the Silicon Valley model is the role model for everybody, with its FOMO, ADHD, “need to make 10 millions before I am 22”.
  • In a world where all the above actually seems to work and they show us Apple, Facebook, Microsoft, Amazon… you name it.

Here comes the other side: Theranos.

I know it is old news now, but I have just read the Bad Blood book and I believe it is one of the great reads of these days, to balance the overly positive Steve Jobs example.

  • This is why you need to also deliver, not only convince people with brilliant PowerPoints.
  • This is why the worst nightmare of investors is to be lied by charismatic founders.
  • This is why you are being Due Diligenced to your desperation. Why there is no rock left un-turned in your shop before an investment.
  • This is why solid Boards are being required for the company. To advise, but to also to raise red flags when needed.

Please appreciate a good VC not only for the business help, but also for the thoroughness in pushing you to become a solid company. It will not only help the investors, but will also keep you out of jail.

I know the concept of Noble Cause Corruption, where you believe you lie “a little” while the bigger goal is more important. But NO. Never ever do this.

Investors are not emotional buyers. They don’t window-shop so they can take their credit card out of the pocket and just acquire something. “Now, quick, or else….”. They need to see the company becoming, evolving, getting into troubles and solving some of them – before even considering an investment. Sometimes they do this openly, sometimes they just slow down the investment process so they can see the dynamics in the company.

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Startups die because of a bad product, they say. Because of bad management, they say. Reality is that the ultimate reason, the only reason companies die for is that they don’t have money to pay the bills.

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Stanford Undergrad

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18 Mar 2018

After finishing high school in my hometown of Bucharest, Romania, I received a BS in mathematics from Stanford in 2017. I am frequently asked what Stanford is like, and usually only provide unsatisfying answers, along the lines of it’s different, or it’s its own world. The reason for my evasiveness? I am usually disinclined to offer the 10-minute monologue that I feel would do justice to the question.

Since I do believe the best way to understand an institution is through its members’ stories, I decided to write this essay instead. I will say something from the start: this essay is not a research paper, nor University advertising. Its goal is not to offer a complete and accurate description of the Stanford undergraduate experience, nor is it to convince you of the program’s excellence. Rather, it is a collection of my observations and experiences, which by their nature, are biased and limited. So please, if you do go on reading, interpret it as such: a slightly more deliberate fireside reminiscence about my college days.

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Our existence is increasingly more and more virtual and complicated. We have many email addresses, accounts, passwords and everything gets mixed up in our heads. We can’t manage to remember them, to understand which ones we need and which ones we don’t need or to realize what to do with them. In this mishmash, we get to make decisions based on emotions and in the heat of the moment: we create an account only when we have to do it and we no longer remember why we did it. I think that an objective understanding of the infrastructure – seen from the “above” – that sustains our virtual existence may help; will try to present my view on the matter.
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  • adnana: I have just finished reading Bad Blood and it is just incredible. What I found it also incredible wa [...]
  • Florin Miron: As usually a cold shower from Radu. It's good and reasonable advice for entrepreneurs, not necessary [...]
  • Eduard: Excellent description on bitcoins, lol. and this was 4 years ago. [...]
  • Diana: Suntem in 2017 si se pare ca BTC inca se dezvolta. [...]
  • Flaviu Butean: Si eu folosesc 1Passoword, pe care il recomand mereu, cred ca este de un real folos. Nu stiu daca m [...]
Radu Georgescu
GECAD Group