Pitchbook is too expensive any suggestions? I will not promote Hi everyone. I’m a CFO of an early stage, robotics- end effector manufacturing startup. We are getting ready for our $10m series A round and I am slogging through conference websites, linkedin and various other websites to find the right investors. Its super time consuming and inefficient. Pitchbook seems great, but it is so expensive. Our runway for this raise is pretty tight and we don't have the budget for a $20k subscription to pitchbook for one set of searches. Does anyone out there have feedback/advice on how to... 4 5 replies
Turns out they never had a problem. They like my product and what it does but they say they never had a problem [I will not promote]. First-time founder here seeking genuine advice. Here’s what I’ve been working on so far: I initially set out to build a marketplace mobile app focused on solving problems for consumers. However, when I tried to deploy the app in locations where it could reach users, I realized my competition was already doing the same thing. More importantly, I discovered that businesses using such apps(who are my competitors) felt underserved—these apps(my current competitors) prioritized the consumer experience but neglected the needs of the businesses selling on the platform. This led... 2 0 replies
What kind of entry level jobs are available at startups past the seed stage? (I will not promote). I have two years of experience post university, a little bit of everything from marketing to market research, physical product development, UX etc. but not substantial enough that I could get even a junior role in any of these areas. I’m looking for a role in an established startup anywhere between 20-200 employees. Reason being I’m a mum so I need the stability. Also because I took a long career break in order to be a mum and roles like Founder’s Associate (which I work as currently) don’t give... 1 0 replies
My friend and I are college engineers, what don’t we know? (I will not promote) A friend and I are working on a start up together and the technical side of it is going well. However, we recently met with a professor who is a big name in the university’s innovation program and he told us we weren’t ready to meet with investors and that he could tell we were engineers. He told us we either needed to learn the business side or bring on a business minded person. So my question is, what shortcomings have you all seen in the engineering mindset and... 1 15 replies
Seeking Advice: Should We Validate the Market or Focus on Building Our Sports Science App? (I will not promote) Hey everyone, My co-founder and I are sports scientists working on an app that bridges the gap between strength and tactical periodization, with a focus on applied strength capacity. We are targeting the high-level amateur market, primarily in football (soccer) but also in other sports like triathlon. We have a strong background in sports science—one of us holds a Master’s degree, while I have a Bachelor’s degree and a high-level football coaching license. Our expertise lies in theoretical strength training models and applied methods for complex sports, such as... 5 3 replies
Best social media for build-in-public? (I will not promote) What social media is best suited for building in public? Anyone has success stories, especially in cases where you didn’t start out with a large following? - X: easy to share things, but has gotten insanely political - BlueSky/threads: both seem pretty small? - LinkedIn: probably easiest for me personally, as I have a decent amount of connections - Reddit: very anti self-promotion. Starting a sub-reddit for my product might be difficult to get started? Which ones do you prefer, and how did you get started? 4 0 replies
Would You Invest in a Program That Makes Your Daily Life More Exciting? I will not promote I will not promote… Just asking for genuine advice! I’ve been researching one of the biggest struggles people face daily, and a common issue is feeling stuck in the same repetitive routine—waking up, going to work, coming home, and repeating the cycle. I’m working on a 30-day challenge-based program designed to make everyday life more exciting, productive, and fulfilling. It would include personalized daily missions, secret challenges, community engagement, and a structured transformation process to help people break free from monotony. If something like this existed, would you invest... 5 9 replies
Work for free then equity and pay? (I will not promote) Ok, so I live in Europe. I have a full time dev job and a family. Mostly Python, some Typescript, GCP, Docker. Web apps and scripting, nothing large scale. I’ve built a few side projects in the last few years but want more. So I was wondering if fledgling startups would be open to an arrangement where I work for free (and part time) in the beginning as an early employee/cofounder but get a small equity and salary IF things go well (like X funding, Y MRR achieved) and... 2 6 replies
The MVP is ready to be pushed out to early access users. I'm nervous but I will not promote! Just wanted to thank y'all for your advice and patience while I waded through the paperwork stuff. It's my birthday today and I'm about to send out early access invites to users. I'm giddy with excitement and nerves. I will not promote. I just wanted to say this out loud somewhere. 3 5 replies
Pre Seed Investor wants us to stay pre-revenue for the next 3 years. Help me understand why. (I will not promote) We have some pre-seed investors. They are giving decent valuations (as a cohort with a lead investor and others joining in with them). They are asking for 10% equity at a valuation of US$ 3.5 Million. For context, the B2B app has a strong team of industry experts (in the F&B + Health industry), but it has no significant users and is not making any money yet. Although we are very early in the discussions, we were surprised by this strange request that we have to stay pre-revenue for... 2 17 replies
Thoughts on Indian tiffin service in major cities (NY, SF, etc) ..? ( I will not promote) It’s a very amorphous thought.. There are Indian meal services but they’re awful in ways that I can go on and on about. However I’m not from the US and wanted to understand if this is a good idea to pursue post grad school as there’s a huge market potential here. Thoughts? 2 2 replies
What state should I use for non-US address when filing taxes in Delaware? (I will not promote) I am trying to file my corporation's taxes in Delaware. All the addresses that I have for the principal place of business and the director's addresses are all non-US addresses, in Europe more specifically. But the online form is still asking me for a US state even if I check the Non-US Address box. Should I just choose Delaware? (I will not promote) 2 1 replies
Who else is laid off and looking for a chance to build something? (I will not promote) I'm a bit skeptical about Big Tech companies. Seems like every week another round of layoff happen. Was just planning what would I do if I were laid off! Are you looking for another job, or is this the push to finally go do your own thing? If you’re starting up, what are you working on? 3 1 replies
What are the most in-demand services, besides marketing, that startups need and are actively seeking? [ I will not promote] Many startups pour resources into marketing, but what about the other essential aspects of their business? What are the biggest pain points for startups outside of marketing, and what services address those needs effectively? I'm trying to understand the current landscape of startup needs beyond marketing and where the biggest opportunities lie for service providers who want to pitch their services to startups. Any insights from those who work with or at startups would be greatly appreciated. 5 0 replies
We just filed our first few applications for funding - I will not promote I cannot believe it, we submitted about 5 applications for our first seed round. The journey to get here has been an absolute rollercoaster and I would like to share this with you all. It all started 6 months ago when my partner (politics, British parliament) was discussing a real and personal issue with respects to her health. At the time I was just made redundant (software engineer) and things were looking bleak. Without going into detail I decided to make an app to help with her health issues.... 2 0 replies
If you're an early stage startup, do you start directly with GDPR and SOC2 compliances while landing initial customers? [I will not promote] We're building a data tool that helps aggregate customer data from various sources, edit them and stream them to LLM training pipelines. Although we don't copy the data to our servers (data read from sources), it seems mandatory that in the market gdpr or such compliances are necessary for large organizations as customers. But if we're an early stage startup trying to land our first few customers, is it necessary to go ahead and figure out compliances before ? 5 12 replies
We received 25k investment offer, need advice [I will not promote] We received a $25k for 2.5% on a convertible note offer from a US based investor. The note matures in 18 months with an interest rate of 5%, but the investor said they can extend it further. It’s an AI SaaS in graphic design. We have been bootstrapping till now, and we feel that this money could help us hire better engineers and marketeers, we want to grow it to a good revenue, but don't see it becoming a billion dollar startup as such. Our initial plans were to... 5 16 replies
How to Find a Technical or a Non-Technical Cofounder [I will not promote] If you are looking for a technical cofounder, you want someone to code your idea and bring it to reality. To do so, you should either be able to raise some money, or have already been running the business and making revenue, but need someone technical to operationalize/automate a process. You will not find someone who will code your product for free, because that person has better opportunity costs elsewhere. He can work with another startup that has funding or have customers; It isn't that they aren't committed/drive/motivation/etc, it's... 2 3 replies
How to find committed full stack devs? (I will not promote) Pretty much what the title says. I’m planning on building an app this summer and I think a technical co-founder who has full stack capability would help me a lot. I have about 70 percent proficiency with code and I’m reasonably experienced in most languages, but I was just wondering where I would start to find these kinds of people. Any advice is greatly appreciated as I’m still really early in this process 1 24 replies
How to get first customers to interview? [I will not promote] I'm trying to build a wellness & self-improvement tool for high-achievers and I've been trying to get folks (other than friends & family) to talk to me about there burning needs with little success. On reddit, I'm mostly ignored. What techniques or strategies have you found most effective for finding & interviewing your first customers? 2 6 replies
