Comments on: Any advice can be worthless, or worse.

By: John Andrew Hazlewood

John Andrew Hazlewood — Thu, 05 Apr 2018 02:17:22 +0000

Why didnt the CEO cut expenses and use his retained earnings to keep the company afloat? I have been in a similar situation when loosing significant clients/revenue and know how difficult that is but if you are passionate and believe in the model in order to survive their is no other solution.

By: Will Hill

Will Hill — Wed, 04 Apr 2018 17:04:17 +0000

Is it really as black and white as laid out here? The decision to go big with more money or grow organically is always a very difficult one. In this case experienced Angels had different points of view. The CEO was “young and eager” (implying inexperience) and expanded “with enthusiasm”. How was he to know this was not going to work? What basis did the CEO have to even take a position?
Quality of execution is just as important as the strategy chosen. What about all of the other variables to success? The quality of the people in the second city for example? Changes in the macro economic environment? Was this 2007 to 2011?
Given the almost infinite number of variables in Angel deals isn’t it risky to take specific examples where there is disagreement and make generalizations or second guess?

By: Michael O'Daniel

Michael O'Daniel — Tue, 03 Apr 2018 18:41:41 +0000

How do you distinguish between “advice” and “direction?” In my experience, board members expect the CEO and other C-levels to follow their directions (they consider that their prerogative since they’re called “directors”) or else they’ll find a CEO who will take direction from them. The CEO may resist and stand his/her ground, but even if successful, that may not be enough for directors who expect their directions to be followed. Whatever you call it, bad advice or bad direction can certainly accelerate the demise of a company.