i have some narrowed down startup ideas from my past experience. I wanted to create a startup and have a concrete plan. Does anyone know how to reach out to VC’s? I know some folks who might join the startup as well.
DM me plz
What could you provide? I'm in a similar situation. Have a solid idea with a large pocket I see.
I am interested in startups
Just email
I have a friend working in a Chinese VC, I am willing to help you connect with them if you are interested.
The number one skill for starting a company is hustle, clearly you do not have that
Why do you think that? If you are referring that why am I asking here, because I have never worked with VCs and tried my ways of reaching them earlier
Most VC’s aren’t interested in providing seed funding for an idea. They prefer to provide funding to accelerate a product that is showing traction and growth.
Get 300 customers first. You will not raise a seed round before proving customers will pay for your product. Read “will it fly”.
I know people in the same situation and they raised 3.5M with similar ideas on paper. Problem is that we can’t work at FB and work on the startup at same time
Unless you are well connected with a decision maker at a VC, or have a proven track record of founding another successful startup, you will not going to raise a seed round on an idea.
Also don’t start a business by yourself. You need a technical founder, a person dedicated to sales/fundraising, and someone who’s creative / good with design. VCs care deeply about teams.
My startup would be enterprise saas. Initially we don’t need all that. Just solid technical people
Enterprise Saas has slow sales cycles. You are really going to have to find the right VC and very few will be interested in a enterprise offering that is just an idea. Realistically, you are going to need someone with a track record of enterprise sales success and customers before VC’s will be interested.
Can you post a follow up post in 6 months if you decide to start this company
I'm super well connected to many top tier VC firms and on my 2nd startup. I suggest you do Friends + Family round or if you have the network, angels (even better superangels or microfunds who are backed by the bigger funds--these help scout promising startups). Don't listen to most people on Blind, they either (1) don't know shit b/c they read about it somewhere (2) discourage you by saying "the fact you are posting this blah blah" = idiots <-- those are the biggest losers who just like to shit on other ppl for their own fragile egos and self-esteem LOL It's like saying 99% of startups fail so why you trying to start one 🙄 (peanut gallery) DM me if you want help, I can share my experiences, advice, link you to many resources (please don't ask me to connect you to any VC firms, always ask for advise and you might get money/intros, ask for money or introductions and you'll get advice)—the one thing you can be better at anyone else is gaining knowledge and insight and going deep on domain expertise where that will then help build your network. You are a nobody until you are a somebody and everyone was a nobody at one point. It's also why next gen social (TikTok, etc.) is content driven, not network driven (MySpace, FB, LinkedIn, etc.). Instagram was network driven at first then became 50/50 content/network driven. The "content" for startup founders is key, so ML/AI expertise? Unique insights into that specific market where you unlock something, etc. etc. People who start trying to network without having any "content" are going to struggle and waste their time. So build your product, prototype, wireframe shit, etc. The biggest indicator for a startup success it to keep DOING, LEARNING, and MOVING (failure is part of it and you will fail many many times then fail even more times). The 99% of startups that fail, fail because they STOP, not because they are failures themselves.
Great points! How did you first start up go? Did you sell it?
1st startup was a painful failure, spent 4 yrs, my team and I got acquihired. Didn’t make much of anything (preferred shares and terms....). It’s like did i just waste all those years of my life? Super depressing. But looking back, nothing is ever a failure, it’s all part of learning and growing. Connected to board of the new company and many high quality ppl within my industry which greatly expanded my network, so failure is only failure if it’s fatal. Worked there for <2 years and got the itch to start my 2nd company with a much stronger network behind me. Just don’t stop.
Oh, shit. 😱
I have a PhD in computer science with 7+ years of experience (4yrs at FB)