His journey as an entrepreneur, sharing experiences from starting multiple companies and insights on fundraising.
His journey as an entrepreneur, sharing experiences from starting multiple companies and insights on fundraising. He highlights the value of investors, emphasizing the importance of profitability and various funding paths.
Yeah, it's funny. Um, you know, I'm in a position now where a lot of young founders reach out for advice. Um, and I just remember being on the other side of that, right? And everyone asks like, can I get help with fundraising, everyone thinks it's a science, like tell me the secret, right? What's the, you know, what's the um what's the silver bullet? And there is none, right? Um, I think, you know, it's not that I don't like VCs. I think a lot of VCs and not all VCs um are run by people that have theoretical knowledge, right? And especially when you're early in your entrepreneurial journey, you really need somebody that's felt the pain that you have, right? I really have preferred to raise money from founders. Obviously, in this day and age, you have people that have sold companies for lots of money and of high net worth. You've got family offices, right? So if it was 20 years ago, you
really didn't have many places to go other than VCs. But in terms of having somebody that has the empathy of um the entrepreneurial journey, I just prefer to raise from exfounders. So by taking money from your partners, you're not just getting capital, you're also getting partners, right? So you're kind of killing two birds with one raise, right? Yes, venture capital can intro you and things like that, but unless you have skin in the game, so if you're allowing your partners to invest, of course they're going to go live with your products. Of course, they're going to use that, right? So, I I've preferred that method. Now, obviously, not everyone can do that. Different models require different funding and things like that. Um and then we're at a point where um we're about to reach profitability, which is obviously where you want to go, where you can control your own destiny,