As it turns out, this is what VCs really want 🤫
Get valuable tips and inspiring insights delivered to your inbox on Tuesday every two weeks ! As it turns out, this is what VCs really want 🤫Bootstrapping, product/market fit and networking combined together equals money.Welcome to the 78 new subscribers joined this week 🥳. 🚀 Thank you to Oaza our sponsor for this week: Drive explosive growth for your B2B SaaS in 90 days 🛎️ Announcement: We aim to support indie hackers and part-time entrepreneurs with the tools and resources they need to build their businesses sustainably. So if you offer tools/services to help them reach their goals, grow their revenue and their audience, and work smarter. Find advertising opportunities and Sponsor slots in here. IntroductionIn the previous post, I announced a three part series about financing a business. Meanwhile, I figured out that it might be too long, I wish I could explain everything in just one paragraph, but like with most legal stuff, it's not that simple. Today we’ll discuss:
💰 Bootstrappers way to moneyYou know what I hate the most? Coders who believe that they possess some sort of magical ability that no one else can acquire. I also dislike SaaS founders who still haven't realized that they're business owners and not just programmers. Money equals business, and no investor will give you more money simply because you can write neat code. They require someone who can operate a company and generate revenue! …NetworkingBased on Jewel Burks Solomon, who sold her company to Amazon, this should be your networking-for-funding action plan:
…But investors also need persuading before investing. Usually a product they can see, use, or touch will not be enough. They will want to know that there is product/market fit and that the product is experiencing actual growth. So what’s a product/market fit ? and why is it so important to investors ? 📦 Product/Market fitProduct/Market fit :
"The market should pull the product out of the startup, rather than the startup trying to push a product onto the market." - Paul Graham The three fundamental components of a startup, namely team, product, and market, exhibit a significantly broad range of variation in terms of their caliber and quality. “MARKET” In a good market, where there are many people who really want to buy something, the market itself helps to sell the startup's product. Conversely, in a terrible market, even if the startup has the best product and team, they will fail because there aren't enough people who want to buy what they're selling. The #1 company-killer is lack of market.
As a startup founder, what should you do about all this? The only thing that matters is getting to product/market fit. When you're still trying to figure out what your customers want, your main focus should be on finding the right product for the market. You should be willing to do whatever it takes to achieve this, such as changing your team, modifying your product, exploring a different market, and sometimes saying no to customers. Once you reach the right product/market fit, you'll know it because customers will be buying your product rapidly, and your business will be flourishing. You'll need to hire more people to handle the growing demand, and even reporters will want to interview you about your success. Michael Seibel explains product/market fit using a “problem”:
🏛️ SaaS marketplacesAs a bootstrapper, your goal should be money. It’s your only self-evaluation. But to ask for money, you should first know your worth. This is how you do it :
Bonus:As I couldn't cover all the details in our last article about financing options, I've compiled the most important information here to help you understand the differences between Seed, Series A and B, as well as VC's and angel investors. 📑 ConclusionSome founders raise money after finding product/market fit and some of them raise money to “find” product/market fit. In both cases and as we have seen it before, finding ideas, validation and product/market fit are the foundation of your success as a bootstrapper. To make this journey much more easier for you, you need “Networking”. Learn networking same as you learn how to code, it’s a skill that you need to develop, and believe me some of your biggest problems could be fixed with a single phone call. There you have it : Finding ideas, Validation, Product/Market Fit and Networking. If you end up liking my work and have your own publication, a writer recommendation is always appreciated! I subscribe to all publications that recommend me and after a while, if I enjoy the content, I am happy to return the favor Ask me questions! Don’t be shy, I am willing to answer and chat, maybe grab some coffee if you are around. Just reply to this email with “Hi ! I am (your name)” and I’ll share with you one of the latest articles, podcasts or videos that I read, heard or watched.
You can connect with us on LinkedIn, where we share our insights on business, SaaS products with our community. |
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Don't raise money, is what people have been telling me for years!
Tuesday, March 21, 2023
Finance 101 Part 1: Bootstrapping should not hold you back from raising money, this is why !
How to get your first 10 customers ?
Friday, March 17, 2023
It's called starting or making money and that's when you really can call yourself a "business owner" !
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