[caseorganic]

My co-founder and I were sitting in Coupa cafe two years ago with a couple of VCs who told us that the Youtube co-founders had pitched them right from the same booth we were were sitting at. "Did you invest in Youtube?", I asked, to which they said, "no - the idea seemed preposterous at the time".

"Well", I said, smiling, "you'll probably think our idea is just as preposterous, and saying you didn't take the jump like it's a badge of honor probably means your firm won't work for us".

[rdl]

I passed on Google in 2000 or 2001 (some eng or ops role), since I was doing my own ultimately doomed startup. I wouldn't consider it a badge of honor (although it is cool that they asked me; I was working on containerized Datacenter stuff for the next phase of the startup)

[rorrr]

YouTube has never been profitable. Google only owns it, because they can afford to, and because they believe it's the future of how people will consume video and TV (and I think they are right).

[joering2]

Correct, but as you perfectly know, VCs are not about building companies that turn profits; they are about exiting with more than they initially invested, regardless if someone will pay "more" because they company is really worth it, or because its just popular in SV in this exact moment.

If you dig into YouTube long and deep enough, you will see it being "too crooked to fail" kind of purchase (most Goog board was against it; one of the owners is a family of a big VC name in Valley, etc).

[aes256]

Precisely. YouTube was, is, and probably always will be a terrible investment.

[kostyk]

yeah, but someone made a lot of money. http://news.cnet.com/8301-31001_3-10360384-261.html