HN Explorer

Ask HN: Do you need a seed investment to get VC?

5 points by jreposa ↗ HN
We're profitable. We've done our homework. We have proven the business model and customer validation. It's scalable and repeatable. But, we'll need a big investment to grow at the scale we want.

We understand that seed investment can open up doors by giving us introductions and preference when finding the right VC, but our revenue is greater than any seed investment that I've seen.

We're more than willing to give up some equity to grow. We just want the right partnership.

Do you need seed investment if your revenue is greater than what a seed can offer? If you skip getting a seed, how likely is it that you'll get the right VC?

Currently browsing:

http://angelsoft.net/

http://thefunded.com/

5 comments

[ 1.9 ms ] story [ 17.7 ms ] thread
pclark
It won't matter.
jreposa
So, go straight to VC? We've spoken to a few seed investors and they really want to work with us, but we've always turned them down due to the amount of investment.

But, they always claim to have great connections.

Could you recommend any VCs that deal with banking or finance?

peripatetic
No need for seed for the "connections." In fact a seed investment can kinda screw things up because you're deal won't be as clean.

Only take on seed if you think it would improve your "funding profile" to VC's. So you need to evaluate 1. what your funding profile looks like now. 2. what it would look like after a seed investment. And remember more is not always better (meaning, sometime its better to show a little less results than more. ie "wow, these guys raised a $500k seed and still only grew at 2x...")

PM me if you want to talk about your current vc fundability (i'm ex-vc, current ceo of startup)

jreposa
Yes. That's also part of the issue. I feel that if I get a good seed round from a reputable investor, I'll have a better funding profile. (I'm PMing you to figure that out... wait how do I PM?)

We're bootstrapped, so I guess our funding profile is... 3 partners, equal equity.

peripatetic
Funding profile I was meaning more like: your revenue level and growth rate, what industry you are in and dynamics of, the business model, strength of team, etc.

if you want to discuss send me your email address to: peripatetic@suremail.info and I will drop you a line.