As a former fusion startup founder, I'd like to say a word about "Stealth Mode".
Fusion startups have an even worse failure rate than regular startups. So far its pretty much 100%. And most fusion startups operate in a fairly secretive fashion. But, I can say from personal experience, that if you keep everything too secret, then if and when failure occurs, you may not have much you can point to and say "I did that". And that matters when you are picking up the pieces and trying to go on with your life afterwards. You may need to find a job doing something else, and the words "Stealth Mode startup" don't cut much cheese outside the Valley.
This is also true for non-fusion startups. Now, no founder thinks that they are going to fail, or else why would you start in the first place? But failure is always a possibility. Nobody wants to spend energy on backup plans. Its best to focus on getting the important job done. But a bit of publicity is often helpful for other reasons (attracting funding and customers, and importantly attracting possibly helpful criticism as well), and provides value in case of failure as well. I think the current crop of fusion startups are doing a better job of balancing publicity with secrecy than I did.
I just wanted to say something about this because I know that there are a lot more non-fusion startups reading this than fusion ones, and this lesson is appropriate to all startups. My post-fusion career would likely have been easier had I been able to point to a news article or two about what I had spent 5 years on. Outside of DFJ, pretty much nobody in the Valley knew who we were. Which means that years later now that I am working on a new startup, I have few contacts in the Valley ecosystem.
One advantage of Stealth Mode is that it spares you the embarrassment of public failure. This can seem like a big deal at the time - when you're living in your car and your girlfriend leaves you, not having some journalist harping on how stupid you were to even think you had a chance is one less thing to cry about. But years later, you'll know that you would have been able to handle it, and the public record that you were willing to swing for the bleachers may come in handy.
Fusion startups have an even worse failure rate than regular startups. So far its pretty much 100%. And most fusion startups operate in a fairly secretive fashion. But, I can say from personal experience, that if you keep everything too secret, then if and when failure occurs, you may not have much you can point to and say "I did that". And that matters when you are picking up the pieces and trying to go on with your life afterwards. You may need to find a job doing something else, and the words "Stealth Mode startup" don't cut much cheese outside the Valley.
This is also true for non-fusion startups. Now, no founder thinks that they are going to fail, or else why would you start in the first place? But failure is always a possibility. Nobody wants to spend energy on backup plans. Its best to focus on getting the important job done. But a bit of publicity is often helpful for other reasons (attracting funding and customers, and importantly attracting possibly helpful criticism as well), and provides value in case of failure as well. I think the current crop of fusion startups are doing a better job of balancing publicity with secrecy than I did.
I just wanted to say something about this because I know that there are a lot more non-fusion startups reading this than fusion ones, and this lesson is appropriate to all startups. My post-fusion career would likely have been easier had I been able to point to a news article or two about what I had spent 5 years on. Outside of DFJ, pretty much nobody in the Valley knew who we were. Which means that years later now that I am working on a new startup, I have few contacts in the Valley ecosystem.
One advantage of Stealth Mode is that it spares you the embarrassment of public failure. This can seem like a big deal at the time - when you're living in your car and your girlfriend leaves you, not having some journalist harping on how stupid you were to even think you had a chance is one less thing to cry about. But years later, you'll know that you would have been able to handle it, and the public record that you were willing to swing for the bleachers may come in handy.