Most startup founders I talk to every week are hearing about the BIG FUNDING game.
They are wondering if they should be playing that game too.
It’s everywhere online with big funding announcements, unicorns, and IPOs.
It’s what founders and funders are talking about in their local ecosystems. It’s all they talk about in Silicon Valley.
“Everyone says” funding is required. It’s the answer. It’s the goal. It’s the game.
I hear the frustration and concern from serious and savvy founders who are growing startups into real businesses–without big outside funding.
It sounds to me like this famous scene from the movie Stripes with John Candy. It’s a classic.
“You’re new to this startup game? You definitely need big funding. You should bet it all. That’s what I’d do.”
This is what the funding-founder conversation is starting to sound like to me.
This is coming from naive investors to new founders who haven’t heard that most software companies don’t start with big outside funding.
Really. Big outside funding for startups is the exception, not the rule.
But nobody is telling new founders that.
It’s apparently helpful for investors that everyone thinks this way.
But it’s not helpful for most founders.
Or worse, it’s the worst advice they will ever get.
Is this what it sounds like to you?
