Parashat Toledot

Toldot

This weeks Torah Portion is called Toldot תּוֹלְדֹת which means “Generations” and the Torah talks about some geneology;
“This is the story of Isaac, son of Abraham. Abraham begot Isaac.” And then the story of the twins Yaakov and Esau

A lesson to be learned from this weeks parasha was after Esau returned exhausted and famished from a hunt one day,  Esau sells his birthright for a pot of red lentil stew.

And Esau said, “I am at the point of death, so of what use is my birthright to me?”

– Genesis 25:32

And Esau said to Yaakov, “Give me some of that red stuff to gulp down, for I am famished”—which is why he was named Edom. The Torah tells us he was named Edom (Red) due to asking for that red stuff, not due his birth when he emerged red. It is an eternal reminder that Esau lost his chance for greatness because he forgot what this world is for.

This teaches us how to do business in this world. The Torah does not say that Yaakov didn’t leave any red stew for himself, he filled Esau’s throat, but does not say he did not save any stew for himself. A servant of Hashem understands that the way to get to the next world is to walk before Hashem in this world to walk through the hallway planning for the grand ballroom

Esau only thought about the present, he was hungry and traded his future for some stew. He thought he would die this this world as the life of a hunter is not easy. I get it the early stages of a company is difficult, and the majority of startups fail and the lure of taking Venture Capital is huge. Going from Ramen Profitability (means a startup makes just enough to pay the founders’ living expenses) and taking Investments just to get to lentil stew is not the way. If you need the injection because you are growing and want to put fuel on the fire that is the right reason.

If you can be a pegasus, “For every round of financing you skip, you save 10-20% dilution. If you skip 2-3 rounds of financing this could double your ownership at an exit.”

How to Be a Pegasus

It’s fairly simple if you want to be a Pegasus, I can describe it in five tight bullet points:

1. Have a modestly paid, small team that produces an extraordinary product (easy!).
2. Charge from day one and pour those profits into growth.
3. Focus on four things: team, product, customer feedback and growth.
4. Triple revenue year-over-year.
5. Ignore any ovation from an investor who doesn’t have the twitter handle @jason

Don’t trade your future for today unless you can turn that stew into success.