We interviewed 30+ different YC founders that had successfully raised Series As about how they did so. We found that fundraising often looks easy from the outside (especially in the press release), but in reality can be quite messy and filled with failure (especially the first time around). We wanted to write this to talk about what founders could do to get the capital they need if things aren't going their way.
It might be worthwhile to interview those YC founders who were not successful in raising their Series A and had to close shop. Weed out that survivorship bias in the analysis.
This matches my experience raising money and the experience of basically every founder I've met (including ones that had a previous large win under their belt).
It's great that you did this. But YC and other accelerators really need to do more to educate startups on the perils of the VC backed investment track.
Given that getting a Series A is only a reality for what 1% of startups it's important to know why the other 99% failed. And what percentage of those startups would've been around today had they been more aware of the low failure rate and ran their company accordingly.
The Machiavellian treachery needed to raise money like this is probably why the few big successes that are run by non-sociopaths are far more likely to be bootstrapped. While pitching investors has a lot in common with pitching customers, playing them off each other like Mean Girls has nothing to do with the core business mechanics of building products, selling them, and hiring employees.
That Machiavellian treachery is essential to success in the US. In addition to investors, big successes must also play politics to avoid the crosshairs of the DOJ.
YC 2021: Syndicated Bribes, and Lobbying, for founders who can't stomach it.
Maybe the smart founders are too busy worrying about those who are dismantling our democracy, and how their actions will affect the opportunity for startups, progress, into the future.
