For detailed advice on how to actually get in touch with investors and set up meetings, check out this video: www.ycombinator.com/library/71-how-to-get-meetings-with-investors-and-raise-money For YC's comprehensive guide to seed fundraising, check out this guide: www.ycombinator.com/library/4A-a-guide-to-seed-fundraising
I went to download the YC SMART sheet but, it says Canada 🇨🇦 sheet, should I use that sheet anyway, even though I'm American and will be an American company?
I'm currently 23, live in Southeast Asia, not from a rich family, and I just started out my career. Never in my life before thinking about building a startup. But in the past few weeks, I have watched several YC videos and get inspired to build my own startup! Sure I still have a lot of work to do, but learning from all of these great videos, I get assured that it's not impossible. Thank you YC for the great inspirations.
I'm building an assistive technology company and had an investor tell me during a meeting HE asked for, "This is a great idea. Someone can do this, but I don't think it's you." So I stopped fundraising, dialed back my vision to the first, smallest, most accessible piece and it's working! While almost everyone around me is trying to stop me, it's great to have videos like this that prove what I'm doing is exactly how founders win. Thanks!
Yea don't listen to those people. Would probably just as easily take your idea and have someone else fulfill it. It's a tactic meant to discourage. I hope it's going well!!
This is some kind of different reality which i guess works in US only. I think i`ve spoken to 100+ investors, spending 1.5-2 years and raising 0 before i realized that all those investors are not interested in you or your team or your product. All they ask is what is your revenue and growth rate. Thats it. At first they will say "oh you are too early for us, but please let us know when you will reach X MRR" then "or you are too late for us, there is too much competition". Even though in your pitch deck it is clearly explained why you are different. Long story short, after we stopped chasing investors and focused on business, we managed to make it work organically without investors. Now we have entities in US, Europe, Asia and continue to grow.
If it you spent that long, your business idea is either not being presented correctly, or It doesnt have as much selling ability / traction as you think it does, or maybe your business is great but your personality is hard to deal with The world is not about you, that's why you need to take care of yourself and if you're trying to grab a slice of cake you have to understand what it takes to grab a slice of cake, and not do it "your way"
It is funny how all these videos and information is mostly about how entrepenurs need to change. Never investors. But investors are far from perfect and could improve a lot themselves.
Thank you. This is a fresh breath amidst all the negativity. Why don’t we have a world where builders get more air to experiment and find something people want. I have spent countless hours on my own to come to that stage. Now I have a business which is generating revenues. Still fighting and will keep fighting.
Recommended viewing! Brad has a knack for simplification. This video is worth the time of every founder just starting (or struggling through) the early fundraising journey.
Chapters (Powered by ChapterMe) - 00:00 - Intro 00:27 - Fundraising resources 00:50 - Paul Graham Essays 01:27 - Tactical guides 02:13 - 7 fundraising myths 02:28 - About 04:06 - Raising money is glamorous 06:51 - The need to raise money before starting a startup 08:19 - Example - Solugen 10:10 - My startup need to be impressive to raise money 12:49 - Example - Retool 13:56 - Raising money is complicated, slow, and expensive. 15:33 - SAFE - Simple agreement for equity 17:05 - Example - Asher Bio 18:04 - I am going to lose control of my company 19:17 - Example - Zapier 20:29 - Bootstrapping forever sucks 21:58 - I need a fancy network to raise money 23:18 - Best for Founder to talk to investors 23:43 - If investors reject my startup its a bad startup 24:00 - Example - nVision 25:09 - WhatNot 26:35 - Wrap up - This isn't for you
I'm 1 year into my business of agricultural products trading and talking to different investors and pitching for additional capital. I'm really glad I was able to stumble upon YC videos. My goal is to build my own feedmill to supply premium quality feeds at a reasonable cost for Filipino livestock and poultry farmers! I'm now planning to apply for YC's funding. Love from the Philippines, YC!
I'm currently building my MVP. I'm more on the technical side of things so these videos are absolutely informative. I'm still going through a couple of books as well, just to name a few.: - The Startup Owner's Manual - The Lean Product Playbook - The Lean Startup - The Founders Dilemma Keep up the great educative videos.
@@dennisorbison7318 Hey man, you've got to be more relevant in your approach here. You should ask what type of engineer the person is and gauge their interest in working on your product by presenting a high level about what you're aiming to build and what validation you've already done and why you're looking for a technical partner instead of continuing to contract/outsource etc. Your odds of finding someone go up by 100x+.
Brad, I'm 47, a senior technical product manager who coded before. I'm building an app that solves the problem of trust between people. Your video was a soothing balm to my heart :) Being very conscientious in everything I do I tend to over engineer and worry too much. Very thankful for your video. Cheers from Vancouver! :)
Really great advice in this video. And actually explaining the paperwork needed and how to go about that seed fundraising is such a big deal. Thank you for this video!
So, I've got a question: Are SAFEs available for those startups outside of North America? (Can the company be formed in 🇺🇸, but the founders reside elsewhere? Say Britain, for instance).
I really thank you for this video. I always wanted to know that. And you took away my fears because now I understand that everything is so simple. You always imagine everything to be so difficult when you read about start-ups in the media. Thank you very much
Very inspiring! Thanks to you and all the guys helping startups to be a great success! Hopefully I make it big with all your advises and get a chance to meet all you guys in person.
By YouSum 00:05:01 Raising money is not glamorous; it's about quiet conversations. 00:07:01 Start working on your startup before raising money. 00:10:12 Investors are convinced by progress, not impressive pitches. 00:14:02 Fundraising can be quick, simple, and inexpensive with safes. 00:17:28 Implementing safes can change power dynamics when talking to investors. 00:18:06 Seed rounds today offer founders more control than ever before. 00:20:30 Bootstrapping a company forever is challenging and not recommended. 00:22:00 Investors prioritize profitable ideas over fancy networks when investing. 00:23:46 Rejection from investors doesn't signify a bad startup idea. By YouSum
We appreciate the feedback! We understand this video focuses more on the broader fundraising process and mentality required, but we've published content in the past that provides detailed advice on how to actually get in touch with investors and set up meetings: www.ycombinator.com/library/71-how-to-get-meetings-with-investors-and-raise-money
talking with an angel, got a term sheet, and having to do thousands in legal fees for my seed round. is this normal, and if not, should i search for a different angel?
The reference about zapier and how their first round was all SAFEs, how did those first investors get their money if that round was contingent on then next round which you said never actually happened?
Great video Brad! #2 depends on your market. Medical Device development is somewhat different, although some of these ´fail fast´ procedures can be used.
Your whole point about bringing the product as soon as possible to the market is a good advice. But I worry about that the idea for the application will be discovered by companys or people who are able to turn that idea very quick into an finished high-end product. What you guys thinking about this? I guess some of you here did go through this process
Great advice and one of the best videos on the subject I saw in a while. Just one note missing: What if you are not from the US? Do the SAFE’s logic still apply for an EU company?
This is great advice. It’s important to be practical and avoid following glorified stereotypes. Real life is nothing like the glorified stories on the internet.
Do you know of any start up business grants for women who live in America but that can be used internationally to help obtain property and infrastructure?
Love the video and advice. One point that I wanted to ask with regards to pre-rev startups...isn't there a minimum bar you need to show investors at this stage? Ie...even if you have a well presented idea and SAFE agreement in place, isn't it still massively important to present investors with; A. Well documented research to establish the product/market fit B. Something that resembles an early-stage MVP C. A team that looks (on paper at least) able to reach early commercialisation You didn't seem to touch on these points...but maybe you did and I just missed it...I just seemed to hear you talking about various businesses where you or other investors invested, based simply on a well presented idea. Surely an business idea...even one that makes total intuitive sense...isn't enough to secure investment pre-rev without the founder identifying - at the very least - a large body of potential customers who say they suffer from the problem that the potential product/service is being designed to solve? And moreover suffer enough to be willing to buy a solution to that problem? Any thoughts on this would be much appreciated!
Hi , i am having over 100 user daily but without revenue because its beta tester version of AI startup . Does i need start charging them or no need , to get found raising ?Customer feedback is really great 100% 5 stars 🎉 . Now fine tuning of model starting to be really expensive and we really need investors .
thanks Brad for this awesome video, can you pls advise/suggest/guide, how I can talk to you for 10/15 mins only, I've my product/LIVE ready and its been used and liked too, just need a little of your time, pls advise or even YC can assist too, just need a little assistance here.
