YC Founders Made These Fundraising Mistakes

Dalton and Michael talk about fundraising mistakes.

To create Rookies Mistakes we asked YC founders: Is there a simple fact you wish you knew when you started your company or a rookie mistake you wish you could take back?

00:00:00 - Rookie mistakes
00:00:23 - Note from YC founder
00:00:50 - Metrics
00:01:13 - Fear
00:01:56 - Investor focus
00:02:48 - Customers
00:03:11 - - Time audit
00:03:35 - Note from YC founder
00:03:50 - Stay lean
00:04:24 - Revenue
00:04:57 - Ownership
00:06:17 - Who you're comparing to matters

[amanjha__]

The biggest thing I get from these talks is a sort of cultural understanding about how to think about problems

[hodarmehr]

My experience is that the only thing that matters is creating a FOMO. You can use your metrics to create a parallel between you and another startup that is super successful in the minds of investors. Metrics or mindset, or warm intro or getting accepted into YC, anything else is tools to create FOMO for the investor and get them to say yes. That's how startup financing works.

[adedayoadeniran]

My great take away is that last point "choice who you want to be like" not competition requirements or designing for investors. But customers

[dhruvbhatia]

Great video. It's crazy how YC keeps making these videos, but many YC startups seem to be exactly like what YC tells them not to do 😅

[rajkrishnamurthy]

Brilliant Dalton and Michael. It is funny that the VCs who fund "disruption" haven't "disrupted" themselves in a long time. Too much group think. Reminds me: "the cobbler's son has no shoes". So much of fundraising for B2B, especially in the early stages, seems to be about who you know and the pedigree you have, rather than the customer's value of the product and the founders commitment to persevere and execute.

[pinghe]

If a mediocre startup raised more money than it needs/ought to have, apart from the founders fallacies, isn’t it also a failure on the part of the VC? like two sides of a coin; it takes two to tango

[Ranjanwatson]

The talk is loaded with value, thank you.

[TheProvenFact]

“You get to choose you wanna be like” some simple yet powerful words 💭

[DanielleNewnham]

Thanks for sharing - these videos are great

[yrahmed]

Nice, I see you rockin the Polo Michael!

[KazzyOfficial]

Literally trying to determine if I should fundraise right now or be patient and raise valuation by continuing to make revenue and just try to 2x - 5x revenue before raising capital. SUCH A DILEMMA

[TheKrazzyStudios]

Ok. So here's the thing: My company made more than $150K of revenues with a unique innovation in the cloud space. But i am struggling with the fund raise while a friend recently raised $10M on pre-revenue, pre-product company based on a bullshit story that he was able to peddle among this FOMO driven group of VCs.

[rohankamath]

"Choosing who you want to be like is one of the most powerful things you can do if you're an ambitious person who wants to do things in the world."

This should be a sticky note at all our desks.

[eliodrallag]

Investor focus is really a good one. Cuts down to the throat

[mwcui]

So so good. Thank you for sharing, this was hella insightful

[nandit]

Obsession over customers than investors !

[RoadmapMBA]

Really loving these! “You get to choose who you want to be like” 🙌🏻

[amrutadeshpande]

wow.. this is so informative... lotsa learning for us as first time entrepreneurs. Michael Love !.

[Valentinfj]

Thanks for the insights! Subscribing to your YouTube channel was a very wise decision.

[rudhisundar]

Guys, just figure out when the Bald Monster (Pun Intended) laughs out, there in lies the crux of knowledge.