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Ask HN: Could you find funding if you didn't want to build a $1-10B business?

1 points by FrenchDevRemote ↗ HN
I'm building a business.

It seems crazily preposterous/pretentious to even write these words, but I'd be perfectly fine with a $10–50M ARR business. Like if at any point I was making more than a few million in profits a year, I would try to sell, hire someone to replace me, or just try to keep it stable.

I have what I think is a realistic plan to reach that level of revenue/profits, but in its current state the chance it could scale beyond +$1-10B valuations seems low, I could slightly pivot to fit that framing, but for now I don't want the insane pressure of trying to build a unicorn(or at least not on this project, it's a money making project, not a passion project with a deeper meaning)

I know there is tinyseed but it's only aimed at B2B(I'm doing B2C), for that and other reasons it would not be the right thing for me.

In that situation, is there any reason to look for outside funding? Would any fund or angel invest in that kind of business? Would you even try to look for an investor?

7 comments

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bix6
Angel investor / HNWI who has some passion for it yes. Would skip VC.

Do you need to raise money? Only raise it if you need it.

FrenchDevRemote
Need is a strong word, but it would drastically lower my stress levels and I could experiment more/move faster without obsessing over every tiny bit of spending.
bix6
Would it? Now you’re beholden to an investor that wants updates. People don’t want to pay for experiments but will pay for good execution on a viable business plan.
apothegm
There are also traditional small business loans.
chadash
If you are talking about capital to take over an already-operating business, then there are plenty of sources. If you are talking about people who fund pre-revenue software companies that aren’t venture scale ideas, unfortunately there aren’t many of these. Your best bet would be friends and family.
michaelastreiko
You can do send emails to 50 funds and apply to YC for example. Based on the feedback you receive you can decide what to do next. It can be that you do not see how to grow business beyond $50M but at this stage VCs invest in founders, not ideas.