It's easy to be snarky; it's hard to be an entrepreneur.

I just read the TechCrunch post on how Tipjoy is closing up shop.  The post mentioned that Tipjoy was launched with a million dollars of funding but has run out of gas and decided to discontinue operations.

What struck me more than anything was the snarky-ness of the comments that followed.  It seems to me, very often, the more someone doesn't know, the more self-righteous and rude they become in an effort to prove just how much they know.  (Reminds me of the old adage about he who doesn't know and doesn't know he doesn't know...)

To all those with snarky remarks regarding burning through a million dollars in funding:

I have founded, funded (personally and through investors), and operated four startup companies, three of which were acquired, one of which is still operating. Further, three of those four were done with my wife as my partner and co-founder. So, I have some insight into what it takes to try something like what Ivan and Abby (married Tipjoy co-founders) tried.

I fully realize that raising a million bucks sounds like a lot of money–especially to people who have never tried to raise money or been responsible for operating a company and making payroll. But in truth, it is often difficult to raise only a million bucks because for most VCs, it is too small an amount to justify the due diligence effort (and for most angel investors, it is too large).

A million bucks burns very quickly in a startup with little or no revenue. It is not as easy as it sounds to take a million dollars and create a profitable business. And it is a very very rare case where an entrepreneur raises a million bucks and then uses the cash to live high on the hog for a year.

I challenge each snarky commenter to describe how they have done better. I challenge each to relate a story about how they put their personal income at risk for a few years (or even a few months) for an idea they had. I challenge each to describe the jobs they’ve created and the number of people they have employed.

I suspect we’ll hear a lot of silence (if you exclude folks insecure enough to feel the need to flame me for my critique.)