A favorite:
25) What is the sign of an amateur? Any of these things:
– asking for an NDA
– trying to raise VC money before product or customers
– having fights with partners in the first year. Fire them or split before anything gets out of control
– Worrying about dilution
– Trying to get Mark Cuban to invest because “this would be great for the Dallas Mavericks”
– Asking people you barely know to introduce you to Mark Cuban
– Asking people for five minutes of their time. It’s never five minutes so you are establishing yourself as a liar.
– Having a powerpoint that doesn’t show me arbitrage. I need to know that there is a small chance there is a 100x return on money.
– Catch 22: showing people there’s a small chance there’s 100x return on their money. The secret of salesmanship is getting through the Catch 22.
– rejecting a cash offer for your company when you have almost no revenues. Hello friendster and foursquare.
Read the all though. Really good.