‘I fight for the users.’ – Tron
I have not been able to send more applications as we were busy with another critical step i.e., meeting the user. We have been fortunate that the product as well as the product strategy is being guided by our user.
We met people from the industry. The team learnt more about the category and discovered the user persona by meeting the user, personally. All critical steps.
The sales and marketing team understood the larger purpose, the market size, and the opportunity. A good thing indeed.
I am software product guy. Also, a businessman. Not a dreamer. Ambitious and courageous. I think the last two are equally important as we would come across times of low/no growth. Laggard development and multiple fronts. So yeah, during that time grit and gumption is required. Dreaming. Not so much.
As with everything in life, another feature of fundraising is that you would come across shit load of faux investors. They would talk about multipliers, up round, down round, dilution of stake and stories of founders who floundered.
I am not sure how honest they are, but they will not tell you this thing – investors seek products where they get unimaginable returns. Period.
No one seriously cares about your aspirations, and they should not.
They are looking for unimaginable returns.
If your product can provide that, and they are convinced that it is a risk worth taking, they would. It is their job to look for such commodities.
It is your (my) job to pursue our dreams, follow our passion and build a transformative business around the idea.
Machine Dalal is growing. Users are growing and we are shipping with more features. Fundraising wise I had sort of taken a break due to my other engagements. Also, it does make sense to focus more on the business side of it and then update the deck and resume the application process.
My only solace is that with each day, the value of product is growing, and I would have to dilute less than I had to the day before. Also, I have a list of so-called investors who pontificate to public but do not respond; for anyone out there who is going through the pain of fundraising I will share it at later stage.
That’s it for now.
Good Night, and Good Luck.