Bad Audio, Good Advice on Funding
Disclaimer: Everything below is a mix of what I observed and heard during the event. The goal isn’t to pinpoint "who exactly said what," but to share (usually) an outsider's view and overall perspective on these industries. I’m not here to act as a definitive firsthand source—readers should do their own research. I hope this inspires you to attend events, explore new industries, and hear what leaders are presenting. These notes combine my observations with thoughts on how things could run smoother and how ideas connect (IMO). I’m not an expert, you know? Just hanging out in the room with them. EnjoyTopics: Funding, Entrepreneurship, Grit, Startups, Accelerators, Exits, Banks, Venture Capitalists
Taking a break from the Events Show to walk over to this curiously-named event. “Go Fund Yourself”. It’s at a decently cool venue, too, so just felt like it’d be worth my time and it’ll breakup my experience at the Events Show. Worth it? Let’s find out.
Why Attend: Actually, lately I’m looking to figure out how to get revenue coming in AND fund myself. Right? So this is kinda exactly up my alley and I wanna listen to this talk - a style of talk I’ve been to many times - but with a bit more intention. Plus, maybe they’ll have food/snacks and networking.
Photo Collage and Commentary:
Notes from the Event:
The checkin was easy enough. The woman at the door I’ve talked to before but she didn’t recognize me. But she saw my nametag from the Events Show then name-dropped the host of it like she’s his BFF but doesn’t have time to go. I’m thinking - girl… i met you before - we emailed and you ghosted me, I already know you’re ‘cool’… lol.
For 25 year olds, keep doing waht you’re doing.
He used to work 7 days a week with no vacation. This audio is not good.
25 year old, keep going, go hard, and take advantage of your opportunity. In your 20s, you can rest later.
Dude his audio is horrible.
Don’t do make decisions based on external factors. Figure out what you’re good at, what you like doing professionally, and lean into those things. Don’t do things you’re bad at. There’s no honor is suffering.
By the time you’re 30, you shoudl know what your’e good at and bad at.
It’s so so so so hard to understand this guy. The audio is HORRIBLE.
The rise of AI and accessibility to make products - often times I wonder how you guys see the importance of investing versus - idk. It’s literally impossible to hear them. This is wild.
When it comes to um, uh. Omg this guy - you literally can’t understand him cause the coffee shop is so loud and the microphonee is so foggy. Nuts and horrible.
Lot of peopel in the audience are looking at the stairway in distress cause its so loud. It’s liek this room we’re in isn’t even that big but people can’t even hear.
If you need to raise money, do you need money to be able to deliver a product to a customer?
- This guy just showed up late, who I met at another event just a few days ago (but didnt blog about, it - nor antoher event thoguh it was an EPIC night. I met that guy on a rooftop and another guy in the audience at an event about building designs in 3D. Met some amazing people, even the coolest futurist guy I’ve ever met). But this guy. He was kinda awkward and he seemed to want to ask me out on a date but then stopped himself. LOL. Now he came and sat down but sat further way from me. Thats fine. We got along decently well but I don’t want to go out with him. Not my vibe.
Unless you’re doing something deep in tech or …
Yeah, the other guy in the audience I met the other day. A. Few nights ago. We were talking about conspiracies and clones and whiteleblowers getting killed. He wants to improve hte efficiency of conferences/conventions so I connected him with ANOTHER guy i met at ANOTHER EVENT i attended last week - that ALSO i didnt’ blog about hahaha. omg.
I need to watch the videos he sent. About Amy Eskridge and Sabrina Wallace
OMG it’s SO HARD TO HEAR THESE GUYS>. It’s SO HARD To hear these guys. I think they’d be easier to understand without a microphone.
Venture Capital funds need to believe you will spend the next 10-15 years building a company versus 5B or more. The math doesn’t work without that exit.
My investors expect a 5x net on their exit minimum.
OMGtheres ’s a guy scratching his neck with his pen - i feel like he’s going to draw on himself by mistake. Lol. Ugh I realize I’m so over this event. I was actually having a lot of fun at the other event. But I jsut walked here 20 minutes to get here. I’m just like wtc is this horrible audio event. I want to leave. But I want to say hi to my conspiracy friend too. I taught him how to play corn hole.
If someone is not investing in you, your idea isn’t big enough, tehy dont think you can build the team, they dont think you can build downstream. They may be wrong, but (omgggggggg it’s impossible to hear) Maybe I’ll go sit in the front row. Lol. Hope no one steals my purse. I dont wanna cary all my stuff. I’ll go sit int eh front row. Moving.
Oh yeah, over here it’s mUCH better. He said for his last company he raised 2M and sold it for 10M in a year. IN A YEAR!?!?!? Lol gimme a break. These freaks are so good at this. Hahahahah.
And I mean freaks in a good way.
When you evaluate funding, theres venture and then theres alternative funding. And depending on what you’re doing, if you really built the business nd you’re doing the thing where you have revenue and customers and you need to raise money cause theres so much demand, you can probably get bank funding. Angel investment. The terms may not be as attractive and you can control your destiny more. You won’t be signing up for an adventure. Either run it into the ground or scale it up massively.
LOL I’m like who is this speaker. He’s so casual about success. Seattle. Uugh. hahaha motivating and gut-wrenching.
If you think you can grow a company in five years, you’ve got hte chance to make life changing money.
If you sell a VC company for 5M, you’re not getting any more.
Okay this interviewer is a founder, looking for capital to live. Quit jobs hoping to figure out how to survive.
Sign 3 to 5 pilot agreements with logos/companies investors recognize
If it’s enterprise, not consumer, I dont do that.
Investors look for if you have - first of all - investors don’t want to invest till they have to. They want to see you get 10M in revenue… son your way to 10M someone is going to give you money. W’ere all just waiting to see.
It’s better to have 5 customers paying you 50g. Launch your company, build an alpha. 5-6 customers in 6 months, people believe in you and think you’ll raise revenue downstream. If you have proof, then you can raise. That’s hard though, you got to build the thing.
Paying customers, you know, workign product and market. The other idea is idk.
The further on this side you can get, the more you need to be like, “well I was the first go to market hire at a company that sold for 1B to a big company. The market will fund TEAM, TECH, or TRACTION - the more you have of one, the less you need of the others.
If you walk into ra room and say you’ve got a cure for cancer, you don’t need a team - your tech is so good
Bro they’ll kill you. Depending who you tell. Lol. I mean not LOL but LOL cause it’s true.
Active paying customers, you need traction. Everoyne in this room has a mix of three attributes. The more you have of one the less you need of others.
When it comes to the founders needing to raise capital. Getting a bunch of rejections in this process. Part of being a founder is having thick skin and keep moving on. What are some of hte insights founders aren’t made aware of that you know. Regarding why tehy’re being passed upon?
- an example is one of hte best companies in the first fund. They raised two rounds of capital from us and another firm.
Scaling business. Went from 1M to 5M in a few months. In 120 VCs for series A, they got 119 nos. It’s a number game. You gotta realize it’s not always bout you. It’s about investors.
Some peopel only back founders who worked at hyper scalers. Some only want them with a PhD in AI. There are all these things - no one will tell you. All these things are playing in the back of their head. Which is hy you need to give yourself as many chances as you can.
Highly recommend doing research before just going to talk to a VC around funding - find out the types of founders they’re investing in.
Bring it to Seattle. Foudnres with series A, B, C, notice a gravitational pull to move down south. Is there a world in which those types of founders stick and we retain more talent here in Seattle.
The founders know investors
The density of collisions
It’s just imposible to replicate seattle. Seattle is amazing
If you’re spinning out of Microsoft and never did a startup, I want you to move to the Bay Area. I can’t unteach you your habits. You need to be surrounded by the events and the kinetic energy around startups.
Is the talent in Seattle more seasoned? Leaders that have been at startups, exited, IPO’d, made their way to Seattle. Can help you get going… have you seen that?
Historically, since 2020, massive influx of talent from the Bay Area. Lots of it is because they were having exits and dint want to pay hte tax burden in California. NO capital gains tax, no income tax. If you spend 10 years making zero money. Then maybe you make, I mean, 10M as a founder. But if you do the math you would have been better at google for 10 years.
Lots of spouses move here for family. It’s a consistent drum beat. People born here tend to want to come back here.
Drag spouse kicking and screaming. We see al to of those folks land here. So, yeah, I’d agree. It’s been historically a big draw.
Underrepresented founders - whether it’s about their sexual orinetation o r race or gender.
The disconnect is a larger late-stage capital allocation issue.
Now they’re opening it up for folks to ask a few questions dn see whats on their mind. Maybe I will go back to the events show. Cause I have another event tonight I’ll stop by in 4 hours… and I’m just like omg . I want to go.
Until next time, I wish you the motivation and success to search for opportunities around your area. Search and explore: Who is out there giving talks? There are new things happening all of the time.
Find relatable or interesting topics you like and check them out! Maybe even something hosted at a cool venue, if there’s no other reason to go. Let’s see what you can learn and discover not too far from home. 😊
