Raising money? I've been reading posts from this page for a while. Everybody talks of "raising money". How do you raise money? Some of you might think that's a stupid question but I'm really perplexed. Is this like getting investors? Also why the astronomically high amount of money? I'd need 100k€ max to start my business (game dev studio in Europe), that's why I'd like to know more about it please and thanks for the answers. 2 0 replies
Any advice from breaking into US market? I currently do website development for small businesses, mainly estate agents, over the past year and a bit I've built up a decent MRR. I'm looking to break into the US market to expand my business as I'm starting to find UK businesses just don't have as much money to spend on websites and there are obviously far less. Does anyone have any advice for things to consider? Such as payments, marketing in the US, keeping it legal etc. And whether it was worth it to you? TYIA 4 0 replies
Anyone have experience with IRAP grants (Canada)? There are some posts already on this topic, but they’re a few years old now. Anyone have recent experience with receiving IRAP funding (Canada)? If so, I have some questions for you. In particular, I am wondering how accountability works (is the money sent upfront or is it contingent on developing/producing the final product? How flexible is IRAP to changes in the product/plan as development proceeds? How for-profit and with clear profit motive/application should it be?) and any other tips. Thanks in advance for your help. 4 0 replies
Where can I find good technical candidates to hire? I have a bootstrapped startup with very limited budget. I am pre revenue and trying to wrap up my MVP. As most of you already know it is very challenging to do everything on your own. I hired a few people in the past and at it’s peak we were 5 people. But now it’s only me. We are a fully remote company and working on a challenging product. I had to let go of my first dev as he wasn’t producing any output after 1+ month. I also... 1 0 replies
VC's reaching out to us, what do we supposed to do? I cofounded bootstrapped a startup in the hot AI space last year, now it has over 25k MRR, but single digit monthly growth because we suck at marketing, we do have a pilot with a Fortune 10 company. If pilot is successful, it could skyrocket us. VC's don't know this traction but got a few of them reached out to me. Hopped on a couple of calls. But it seems like it will take a lot of time to talk to them and they will mostly waste my time.... 4 0 replies
Where should I start? Hi all, I’m a UK-based founder building a B2B SaaS in the construction tech space. Our MVP is ready, but no traction yet. I want to sell in the US, raising from US investors makes the most sense. Am I being stupid thinking US investors would take me seriously as a UK founder? How do I even start finding and approaching US investors when I’m across the pond? If anyone has experience or advice for navigating this kind of situation, I’d love to hear it. I’m trying to figure... 2 0 replies
Need Help Growing My Business Without Upfront Funds for Marketing Hey Reddit! I’m in a bit of a conundrum with my new business and could use some advice or guidance. Right now, my business is at a stage where it’s not yet producing any money. I’ve invested a ton of time and energy into building a strong brand, including developing clear guidelines, creating a vision, and laying out the groundwork. I truly believe in what I’ve created, and I’m confident in its potential. The problem is: I’m not a marketing or social media expert. I don’t know how to... 5 0 replies
Should I pursue the idea I like despite there being some competition and me having no strong differentiators? I'll keep it as short as possible. So I have this idea for a SaaS in the dev tools area. There are five competitors, all pretty new (\~3-4 years). Three of them don't seem to be big, and two - are (and both are backed by YC Combinator). I've been having this idea for a few years now since I encountered a problem at work and couldn't find an existing solution for it. I am fairly passionate about it, and it has a lot of qualities of a perfect... 5 0 replies
Using AI to plan and operate your business I built a platform to help aspiring business owners plan and start their businesses. When I started, AI had just started making waves, and I wasn’t sure how it would fit into the platform because I didn't have the tools to integrate it's abilities. Now AI (specifically I use ChatGpt) is my daily assistant giving me some perspective on its usefulness for my customers. I use AI as an editor for app content, social media posts, and some HTML and JSON tasks. It reduces the time it takes to... 4 0 replies
App intended for retailers to market products and consumers to purchase (some unique factors I’m leaving out intentionally) How can you best identify the profitability of what an app will do if it’s not directly based on units sold initially? Maybe it’s on the amount of retailers that sign up and pay a subscription to market their products on the app, if not maybe it’s just the amount of units the retailers are able to sell and we would take a percentage of that revenue. etc.. Any ideas I appreciate you all and I’m fairly new to this so take it a little easier on me 😂... 4 0 replies
Forward looking real estate brokerage I just finished up my computer science degree. Alongside my studies I was buying rental properties and am a licensed agent with ~30 transactions. Starting my broker course in a little less than a month. It’s my opinion that with the NAR settlement we are headed towards much more transparency and hopefully lower expected commissions. Has anyone here started or had thoughts on what the new brokerage model will look like? I’m thinking of an a la carte style model with full transparency where clients pay for what they... 4 0 replies
Best way to show potential profitability for a start up social media app intended for retailers and shoppers? I have a very early early early start up app that isn’t necessarily a retail product. It’s more of a SaaS product, or a social media app that SMB, Mid Market, or even Larger retailers would be able to use to market and sell their products, meanwhile regular users would be able to go on just to check them out and purchase etc. there are a couple unique propositions about it that I won’t mention for right now just for privacy purposes. My main question is, how can you... 5 0 replies
Do you need a technical co-founder? I’ll cut right to the point, I’m looking to start something new - something to really sink my teeth into. I’m a software engineer by trade (of about 10 years), and with experience over the past 2-4 years of managing and growing technical teams, making key business decisions, etc. I’m looking to partner with someone who has a great idea who needs a technical co-founder to bring it to life, whether it’s SaaS, something AI based, etc - I’m fully capable of building any kind of web app/website. I... 5 0 replies
Christmas present for all the budding founders out there! (You might know someone who needs this) The season of giving just got better This year, we’ve witnessed an incredible surge of new AI-based startups, and I know many aspiring entrepreneurs are gearing up to make their mark in this space. Over the past few months, I’ve received several mentorship requests (not a flood, but enough to get me thinking :P After some reflection, Swati (my wife and co-founder) and I have decided to **offer our support as AI/Tech strategists to 5 promising startups/Individuals/Teams** For those who may not know me well, I’ve been fortunate to... 5 0 replies
Are there any new CRMs that don't suck? Google sheets seems like a horrible way to move forward. SF, Hubspot, Pipedrive all seem outdated at this point. Anyone find a new CRM that was built for founder led sales teams / startups that is potentially AI driven? Trying to find something that works for us but nothing is turning up. Looking forward to any advice on this. Thank you! 2 0 replies
"The Ladder of Proof: Uncovering How VC's See Your Startup" (3-min video) The short "The Ladder of Proof: Uncovering How VC's See Your Startup" video in the comments )I'm a newbie here and can't create a post with a link) gives a quick overview of a VC's mental framework for evaluating whether or not a startup is worth investing in. Disclaimer: I have **no** connection with the NFX vc firm, except as a subscriber to their blog. 5 0 replies
How significant is it to make it to due diligence? A pre-seed (*truly* pre-seed, aka pre product/revenue) firm we pitched recently sent over their “Pre-Closing Due Diligence Form,” which just asked about company structure and founders. It’s been 5 days since we submitted it and we haven’t heard back. Is this concerning? Are my expectations rooted in the unrealistic timelines from 2021 when companies were closing rounds in a week with very little diligence done at insane valuations (and are now struggling to raise series As)? The first call went great, the GP (he’s solo) showed genuine enthusiasm and... 4 0 replies
Bad startup raising lots of money You see a startup: 6 years since launch. 4 founders, 40 employees. €250k ARR expected to go to 400k. Raised 1.4M 14 months away. Now raising 5M. What do say from this? They have a burn rate of more than 100k/month, and have a easy to replicate SaaS. How could investors continue investing? What am I missing? 2 0 replies
How is Antler residency like? Im thinking about taking part to the Antler Program but im confused about what does that 3 month residency include? I currently have a full time job so does it mean if I take part in that program that im gonna have to quit my job and be part of the program full time? What does the days include or how is the schedule? And is it like working a 9-5 but just with trying to co found a start up? My issue is that I dont think I... 1 0 replies
How to back to work after 8 month gap Hi! My co-founder(he is also my husband) and I have been working on our project (note-taking application) since August 2023. Things did not go ideally but we did something (especially my partner) but this year knocked us down a bit (we changed the country with all this bureaucracy-related staff and became parents of twins). Now I feel that I'm able to back to work, but I don't know how to start, any advice? 2 0 replies
