Fund Raising Is a Means Not an End⁠↗

When I asked, “What are you working on?” the first words out of his mouth was his fund raising progress. Sigh… What I should have been hearing is the search for the business model, specifically the progress on product/market fit, but I hear the fund raising story first at least 90% of the time. It never makes me happy.

Raise as much money as you can after you have tangible evidence you have product/market fit, not before.

There are two reasons to take venture money. The first is to scale like there is no tomorrow. You invest the dollars to create end-user demand and drive those customers into your sales channel. The second is the experience, pattern recognition and contacts that great investors bring to the table. Just make sure it’s the right time.