Jordan Cooper
jordancooper.wordpress.com · Personal blog · on HN since 2009
Jordan Cooper is an angel investor who writes about seed-stage valuation, founder failure, and startup culture.
What HN saysCommenters value his perspective as an angel investor, and one notes that failed founders leave investors with a bad taste.
18HN people shared it
3linked it in comments
112stories submitted
603story points
12 years agolast shared
2009people per year2026
Most-shared posts
- 1Seed Stage Valuation Guide4 people · 76 points · first shared 2011 · 6 comments on HN
- 2Data for Dummies2 people · 3 points · first shared 2011 · discussion on HN
- 3Full of “Potential” = Full of Shit…2 people · 2 points · first shared 2010 · discussion on HN
- 4What Really Happens When You Fail in Startupland2 people · 2 points · first shared 2013 · discussion on HN
- 5Trees, Sharks & Change2 people · 1 points · first shared 2010 · discussion on HN
- 6The Downside of "Demo Day"1 people · 85 points · first shared 2011 · 21 comments on HN
- 7Founders Need Rock Hard Abs1 people · 46 points · first shared 2009 · 24 comments on HN
- 85 Reasons Founders Hate the Question “So What Do You Do?”1 people · 41 points · first shared 2010 · 32 comments on HN
- 9Effects Of Entrepreneurship Of Savings (Graph)1 people · 26 points · first shared 2010 · 12 comments on HN
- 10Gut Checks When Founding Your First Company1 people · 26 points · first shared 2010 · 10 comments on HN
- 11So You Signed A Term Sheet? You’re Not Out Of The Woods Yet1 people · 14 points · first shared 2010 · 6 comments on HN
- 12I am tired of reading blog posts from "bubble predictors"1 people · 14 points · first shared 2010 · 10 comments on HN
- 13Open Letter to Seed Investors1 people · 14 points · first shared 2011 · 3 comments on HN
- 14Palo Alto to NYC...No Pit Stops1 people · 13 points · first shared 2011 · 8 comments on HN
- 15Entrepreneurial DNA Transcends Context1 people · 13 points · first shared 2009 · 6 comments on HN
What HN people wrote when they linked it
aditya · 2010-11-15
Except that Jordan is also an angel investor, so he certainly has a valuable perspective: http://jordancooper.wordpress.com/lerer-ventures/
MediaSquirrel · 2010-02-14
Also, Jordan Cooper & I have a pretty epic debate going on: http://jordancooper.wordpress.com/2010/02/11/trees-sharks-change/
javiramos · 2014-11-09
The truth is, when you fail, your investors tend to have a bad taste in their mouths. Nobody likes to lose money. Nobody likes to be wrong. Nobody likes to sit in that space that isn’t so happy…and unfortunately for a founder, his person at the point of failure is an embodiment of many things that nobody likes. Now sure, an investor doesn’t dislike the founder himself. If the founder does right and doesn’t succeed, there is no “black ball”, or malevolent desires on behalf of an investor…but I’d be lying if I said there isn’t a slight tinge on that relationship…and unfortunately, in this world, a slight tinge is all the friction necessary to turn momentum into something less. Note: this tinge is not permanent, and it is not insurmountable…but coming off a failure…you are only as good as your next act…and weather we say it openly or not, clawing your way to the next act, you are starting not at neutral or positive, but with a headwind.
I’ll give the example of my own experience as a founder. My first company, I raised about $600K. I operated for a year, failed, and returned about 50% of the capital I raised. I felt terrible. Everyone said I did the right thing returning the capital, that I was a standup guy for doing it, but still I lost them money. Nobody turned their back on me, once the company wound down…but they just weren’t leaning into investing more time and energy on me. When I went to raise money for my second company, Hyperpublic, weather I asked them or…