Thursday, April 30, 2015

How Financing is done today...


It was often said that business, 
needs to be in the black, not red;
not making profits made no sense,
and without cash, many bled to death!

The world is turning upside down,
for that's not how it's done today;
Someone keeps pumping more of it,
For the entrepreneur to burn away!

They even call it the "burn rate",
and flaunt "mine is greater than yours!";
the more they grow, the more they burn,
investors drool, and queue at the door!

Burn my money! No, please burn mine!
You are the one making most losses!
You must be good, entrepreneur mine,
For you've burnt whatever was offered!

They used to look at business models,
discount the cash flows to the present;
Unless the business turned the corner,
Negative cash flows meant sure death!

Then they valued the eyeballs,
moved on to monitor stickiness;
Now it is the power of the Net,
How quickly, at what scale, can you burn it?

How quickly can you give it away,
in free rides, discounts, and giveaways?
How many did you reach today,
to sell below what it cost you to make?

How fast can you race to the bottom,
How much of my money will you take?
How soon will you empty the coffers,
The quicker, the more you can take!

2 comments:

Crick Connoisseur said...

Dear Mr. Gopalan,

I read your blog regularly and look forward to the 'rooted in old school wisdom' yet remarkably fresh and witty takes on issues otherwise clouded by the stupid 'main stream media'.

Posting a link to a story that corroborates your stand in the pithy poem :

http://www.livemint.com/Companies/fuuj34vscVDBRjwrBld7sJ/Indiaplazacom-How-an-Indian-ecommerce-ran-out-of-cash.html

Regards,
Aniruddha

Dinesh Gopalan said...

Thanks Aniruddh