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People don’t get mad because you don’t pay them back, they get mad because…
It was 1992; I was graduating from Cornell with an MBA, and I needed money for my first entrepreneurial venture — a home video delivery service. Fortunately, the halls of the Ivy League are laden with potential investors (aka, children of wealthy parents).
When I tracked him down, Earl Sunderland III was wearing tight black leather pants with a large gold belt. Hardly the image of a wealthy British scion, but perhaps exactly the image of someone who has so much money he doesn’t give a damn. I hadn’t really talked to Earl in a year and a half at Cornell.
“Hey, Earl, nice, um, pants! Can I borrow $70,000?” wasn’t going to fly, but I did go up and say, “Hey, you’ve probably heard I’m starting a business?”
He replied in an accent that I had been assured was very upper-class Brit, “Mmm?”
I dove into this clear expression of interest. “So, uh, would you like to invest?”
“Send me a business plan, old chap, and we’ll see.”
I gave him my business plan, asking for $70,000. A few days later, he handed it back to me, saying, “Sorry, old chap, I can’t…