To Fund or Not to Fund

I apologize for the tragically unoriginal title. I could have gone with "Who's Ready to Have Some Fund?" or "Funny Funds" or any other 'fund' pun. Or maybe "Who Wants to be a (funded) Millionaire!" Whatever. When the book comes around, I'll think of something better.

From the outside, one of the coolest things about starting a start-up is boasting of one's accomplishments in fund raising. "I raised X hundreds of thousands of dollars" is more than just a boast- it seems to be an affirmation of your ability to succeed. The more you raise, the most obvious it is that people believe in your idea and, more importantly, in you as an entrepreneur. The number after the dollar sign becomes a confirmed and measurable benchmark of one's ability and reason to stay in- and succeed in- the entrepreneurial world.

Or at the very least, it makes Moms everywhere happy.

But I find there to be certain associated limitations that, if an entrepreneur can find the means to support himself without funding, are better off avoided. Giving up a percentage of your company before really finding out its value is often unnecessary. It's like setting up a T-ball instead of learning how to hit a slow pitch. Sure, you'll hit the ball. But how far?

Other people's influence over your project is an unneeded interjection in the life of what only one person (or two or three, depending on your situation)- the founder- has real passion invested into. I'm a strong believer that an entrepreneur- one who is in the business of starting companies for the long game, and not just for the bragging rights that comes with investment- should be able to have at least one project in his life that they build on their own.

Of course, this doesn't mean avoiding advisers. Anyone willing to give you any amount of guidance is practically a saint, especially in the early stages of your company. But I want to run my company towards my vision, not someone else's. I want my company to be guided by my ideas for its future, not my investor's ideas for how to exit big and fast. I want my company to be a true reflection of my work, my mind, and my ability, not of someone's check book.

There will be a time when, if all goes as planned, funding will be unavoidable. And I eagerly anticipate that moment, because that means that I have maxed out the company's ability to grow organically, and the time has come for a cash injection to take the company to an unprecedented level of growth in remarkably quick period of time. This growth:time ratio can't be recreated anywhere as well as in a start-up that has proven its business model and market, and has been gifted money (and advice, contacts, and support) for major expansion. But now- at the pre-market stage- is not that time.

The next post is going to discuss my "take every meeting" philosophy, and where exactly that got us. Hint: the most exciting pivot we've had to date, and the greatest affirmation of a market and potential for success came only after a lucky happenstance, and a "say yes" mindset.

That's if I manage to stop watching Entourage long enough to concentrate.

Chow,

A