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independence4 unconnected · 2 more authors in those circles
applies to

b2b, no audience needed

mixed results

confidence

high

evidence

9 claims · 7 articles · 4 receipts

window

2014-11-14 → 2022-08-22

4 builders who never spoke to each other

Fund it without handing over the outcome

Venture money removes the mid-sized success that would be a fine result for a bootstrapper, and raising on an idea alone is finished unless you are unusually well connected. Earn the seed money from small products, structure an angel round so investors are repaid before founders take profit, and get something shippable in front of users first because it reads as resourcefulness in a way a deck does not.

The method

  1. 01

    Earn your own seed money from information products rather than courting an angel, since the median cheque is about $25k and arrives with equity, board seats and eventual exit pressure attached.

  2. 02

    Raise a small angel round structured so investors are repaid before founders share profit, and publish the paperwork so other founders can copy the structure.

  3. 03

    Understand that venture money removes mid-sized success as an option, so if a few million in recurring revenue would be a win for you, do not take it.

  4. 04

    Treat competitions and grant applications as a time sink you should mostly refuse, since months can disappear into entering them for nothing.

  5. 05

    Do not apply this filter if you are chasing a genuine moonshot, but recognise that raising venture money on an idea alone is finished unless you are already well connected in Silicon Valley.

What it returned

  • $5k

    Angel investments run from $5k to $100k with a $25k median.

  • $1.3

    Rand Fishkin took about $1.3 million from private investors for SparkToro, against roughly $30 million of venture capital at Moz, and released the financial and investment documents publicly.

  • $5m

    Rand Fishkin describes $5m to $10m ARR as an excellent outcome for a bootstrapper but not enough for a VC, who would rather see $20m to $50m of losses if growth were fast enough.

  • $500,000

    The team burned a painful amount of time on app competitions and grants with no result, including nearly a month writing a Department of Energy application for a $500,000 grant that the author calls a complete waste

Sources

the second source

Three plays a week, for the phase you are in

No roundup of links, no news. Three tactics more than one builder arrived at separately, with the numbers each one returned and the disagreements left in.

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the second source

Three plays a week, for the phase you are in

No roundup of links, no news. Three tactics more than one builder arrived at separately, with the numbers each one returned and the disagreements left in.

963 corroborated plays to draw from · 3 a week

One email a week. Unsubscribe in one click, and the address is used for this and nothing else.