Using your noodle to attract investment
PUBLISHED : 30 Nov 2011 12:22:20 | Jeanne-Vida DouglasThe age of profligacy in the tech world that came with the dotcom boom of the late 1990s is markedly absent from the current dotcom boom. Instead it’s all about “ramen profitability”. This is a phrase coined by computer programmer and venture capitalist Paul Graham, who founded US-based seed funding group Y Combinator.
It refers to entrepreneurs who manage to take their businesses organically to the point where it covers their living expenses before attempting to raise capital from venture capitalists or angel investors, even if living expenses are confined to a diet of instant noodles and sleeping on a friend’s couch.
This is in contrast to the 1990s where businesses that were losing money could still attract huge investment.
Nutritionists should rest assured that forums discussing ramen profitability often also feature “wantrapreneurs” swapping recipes for more nutritious meal options,
which include lentil soup and dahl.
They also extol the virtues of cooking as a form of stress relief for highly strung business builders.
BRW
Jeanne-Vida Douglas
BRW.com.au EditorSydney
Jeanne-Vida Douglas is a multi-award winning business journalist with a decade's experience covering the information technology sector. She holds tertiary qualifications in linguistics and literature, economics and IT, was named MediaConnect’s IT Journalist of the year for 2009 and has recently published The Profit Principle a book aimed at turning smart ideas into great businesses.
Comments (0)