It's like winning a lottery if you're raising for the wrong reasons, at the wrong time, or in the wrong market.
Wrong reasons- Not for growth but to "build a prototype"
Wrong time- Not seeing growth or the opportunity where the money could clearly make you a leader
Wrong market- Very few markets warrant VC money. Think again- Can what I'm building have a potential 9 figure exit or 10x money in. That requires a very very big market. "Oh it's a 6 billion dollar market." rule of thumb ill occasionally use with no specific scientific backing: is your TAD (total addressable market) smaller than Google's recent quarterly revenues?
No offense, but have you personally raised VC money? I see from your profile that you live in Silicon Valley, where they tell me such things are possible (although I'm still highly skeptical). Here in Atlanta it's definitely just a myth.
For the average Joe here on HN, the chances of raising VC money are about as good as the chances of getting drafted to a baseball team. Maybe you can get angel money, and by angel I mean "Mom & Dad", but even that's a risky bet.
You're much better off just working on your startup and bootstrapping off of revenue & other-work money.
I heard opposite advice: e.g., spend more time talking about the product and less on the size of the market. And while yes, "Investors don't want you learning on their nickel", I do think they're more forgiving of very early-stage ventures (the right funds, of course).
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[ 3.3 ms ] story [ 24.9 ms ] threadBuild your idea without it. You're building a website, not a nuclear power plant. You don't need a couple million in funding. Get serious.
Wrong reasons- Not for growth but to "build a prototype"
Wrong time- Not seeing growth or the opportunity where the money could clearly make you a leader
Wrong market- Very few markets warrant VC money. Think again- Can what I'm building have a potential 9 figure exit or 10x money in. That requires a very very big market. "Oh it's a 6 billion dollar market." rule of thumb ill occasionally use with no specific scientific backing: is your TAD (total addressable market) smaller than Google's recent quarterly revenues?
For the average Joe here on HN, the chances of raising VC money are about as good as the chances of getting drafted to a baseball team. Maybe you can get angel money, and by angel I mean "Mom & Dad", but even that's a risky bet.
You're much better off just working on your startup and bootstrapping off of revenue & other-work money.