You know the popular YouTube video “David after Dentist“? The one with the kid that is so drugged up from the dentist that he has no idea what is going on and in a fit of confusion asks “Is this real life?” Well that’s exactly how I feel right now. MANteresting has turned in to something bigger than I could have ever anticipated. I was originally only planning on writing one post about the site this Friday, since that is when we will officially be one month old. I planned to share with you some pretty incredible statistics about our growth as well as provide a laundry list of websites that have featured us.
But yesterday, at about 4:30 in the afternoon, Jesse and I got an email from a VC group based in San Francisco saying our website was “growing rapidly” and had “piqued” their interest. One of the founders of the VC was “impressed by the site and wanted to find out more about the team behind it and the company’s financing plans.”
At first I was absolutely pumped. I literally threw my fists in the air and let out a triumphant scream. “We have people who might want to give us money”, I thought to myself. I started clapping hysterically with excitement. Girl Ninja begged me to stop because my claps were so loud. After a minute or two of absolute joy, my excitement quickly turned to skepticism.
Truth is, this is not the first entity to reach out to us and ask if we were interested in taking on partners. We’ve had some offer their skills, some offer their connections, and others offer their money; all so they could get a stake in MANteresting. We’ve turned them down every time.
So I hopped on Google and researched the VC to check out their credibility. I was pleased to find Groupon and a few other major players in their portfolio. What’s more, they seem to always pour $1MM or more in to each company they partner with. Needless to say, these guys don’t mess around.
I have a phone call with someone at the VC today and should have a better understanding of their level of interest after it. They could very well be data mining, just trying to learn about us without any actual intention of partnering. They could also send this email to 1,000’s of other start-ups each year, seeing who bites. They could also think we are cash poor and are in need of financing from outside sources, Simply trying to take advantage of a struggling company.
But….what if they really are interested and see the potential behind MANteresting? What if they have a six or seven-figure partnership in mind? Could you imagine? I’m not putting all my eggs in one basket and expecting this to be the case, but even getting to contemplate the possibility is absolutely incredible.
If anyone out there has any insight in to what this call might entail or suggestions as to important questions I should ask them, I’d love any insight/knowledge/help you could offer up. It has to be a good sign that they emailed us right?
Alright Ninja, play it cool, don’t act as excited as you are 🙂
Favorite nail from yesterday: Never say anything.
