if you don't need the money, you get the money

This is the one founders least want to hear, especially in crypto where everyone’s used to funding being the first step.

AI is powerful enough today that two people can build, market, and run basic ops. The cost of PMF is close to zero. It’s just your time. You don’t need to hire before PMF. You don’t need to grow before PMF. Five B2B clients using your product, or a thousand people using your consumer app, is PMF. Raise then, and you dictate.

VCs want to fund founders who don’t need them. If you’ll die without the check, it’s a bad bet. If you’re going to win anyway, they want their money in it. So get to the stage where you can honestly say I don’t need too much money, I have too many inbounds, two of them serious. They’ll check. Don’t bluff. But once it’s true, you’ll be surprised how many investors line up and how much you can ask of them. I want the fund that brings 30 clients, not the one that brings a logo.

Revenue versus VC is a false dichotomy. To get VC you need revenue now. Pre-revenue valuations are gone. Every bootstrapped business that did well was VC fundable. Hyperliquid’s curve is the most VC-fundable chart in the industry and no VC got in. So the way to raise is to build something you’d keep running without the raise.

In the room, this sounds like: we’re building this regardless. Two of us is enough. If we had a sales intern we could 5x the top of the funnel, that’s the only reason we’d take money. The moment they realise you don’t need them, that’s what they want to fund.

If you have revenue, stop worrying about funding entirely. If you can make money, please don’t think about funding at any point in time. Reinvest it. Ten deliveries a day should be a hundred next week. Your bank balance isn’t supposed to grow. Your transactions are.

the call where i said it best

A 40 Acres-style lending team said VC “isn’t our game”, they’d rather build a big business. I said these aren’t two games. Every great bootstrapped business is the most VC fundable thing there is. You’re the most fundamental kind of founder. Just show one chart with the inflection and let them come.

do this this week

Calculate how many months you can run with zero outside money. If it’s more than twelve, tell every investor that number in your next update.

the line to remember

if you don’t need vc money, you get vc money. if you need it, most vcs don’t want to give it to you.