True capital growth takes time and the startup game is a long game for all involved. We continue to see more and more new faces to the startup game act like short-term traders, and this will not end well for many of them. Founders, venture capitalists, and LPs are forced to learn patience and sometimes wait 10+ years to get capital returned (if capital is returned). From our perch at Orbital Ventures, let’s look at the big picture of what is required.

How can you tell if a founding team will be honest with investors? Every day someone is trying to sell us. Our job at Promus Ventures is to cut through the chatter and figure out if the team in front of us is all that and a bag of chips or just another team with hope as its strategy.

Surprisingly, many startup teams as well as VCs don’t respond well to hearing someone tell them “No.” Which is interesting in that founders and VCs should be hearing the word “No” all the time.

Tenacity is a good thing — we don’t receive because we don’t ask, so being a squeaky wheel is a good thing…to a point. “Squeaky” soon turns into “Annoying” which quickly turns into “Desperation” (and brings much hilarity in the process).

There are many traits needed for a startup team to grow and scale, but the NUMBER ONE rule for any startup cannot be stressed enough: Never, ever run out of money! It is as basic as the human need for oxygen.