I have an MVP for a new social media app, an extensive market research report, estimations for the cost of monetizing the app, and a roadmap for what comes next. It’s also live on the app store now and have 100+ users, mostly from my own network.

I do not have a scripted pitch, but I can explain the value behind the idea to users and how it will make money to investors. I believe in the idea very much, but am struggling to get users on the app outside of family and friends due to no advertising budget, and no time for promotional events.

I am a non-technical founder who has bootstrapped up to this point over the last 3 years by working a Finance 9-5 and paying developers to build the app. I have reached a point where I’d like to receive external funding for a better equity deal than I would have gotten at earlier stages of development.

  1. Where can I find investors that are suitable for investing at the stage I am currently in?

  2. How do other founders who are working a 9-5 and sacrificing so much for your company cope with feelings of burnout?

  3. What are some startup/founder groups that are good to join pre-seed? Are these groups worthwhile when you are short for time?

  • peterpme@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago
    1. you should search everywhere and ask everyone. Start with a friends and family round and try to raise 50k or something like that so you can quit

    I have to fly to SF and sleep on couches when raising money. It took about 4-6 weeks to raise 3.5M

    1. if you’re feeling burnout working a 9-5, you should consider what it will be like when you raise money.

    You will not raise money if you’re still working your current job.

    Startups are hard & lonely. The thing that keeps you going is your belief in what you’re working on

    Find a support system of other founders that you can trust and talk to about the dark parts

    1. the best groups live in small text message formats. Slack / discord communities (and even this subreddit!) are typically worthless outside of some superficial advice

    Refer to #2

    My advice to every young founder is to move to SF. Your chances of finding like-minded people are much higher. Your chances of success increase by hanging around those people.

    Then your worst case scenario is taking a job at some other startup where you could learn and do well at

    Good luck! I’ve done it for 7 years, one acquisition and recently started working for one of the best early stage companies & teams I could imagine

    It is not easy, it will only get harder 🥹

    • Mother-Barracuda-107@alien.topBEnglish
      1·
      1 year ago

      Man…what I could do with $3.5 million….im personally hoping to scrape together about 20k and I know I’ll be able to turn that into 500k a year…

      • peterpme@alien.topBEnglish
        1·
        1 year ago

        You can’t turn 20k into 500k/yr if you can’t even raise 20k

        Here’s your hard truth:

        It’s not the money that’s holding you back, it’s your own mindset.

        • MysteriousTopic1@alien.topBEnglish
          1·
          1 year ago

          Dude, its for inventory. and no its not my mindset thats holding me back. Its my crap credit from my divorce thats holding me back from getting 20k at the moment. Ive already turned a startup that went from 50k a year to over 6 million a year. I wasnt the founder though so I did not benefit from that growth. Now ive started my own business so I can benefit from my hard work and dedication.