Want to trigger a venture capitalist? It’s simple…hire an EA or pay yourself $300k at the pre-seed. Yep, that will do it! Jenny Fielding’s snarky comment on Twitter sparked a lively debate around cash management but what she was really getting at is a warning to founders: make every dollar count. Dive into the article for some spicy takes and advice every founder should hear before their next investor meeting. cc: Jenny Fielding, Scott Hartley, Mikaz E. Eileen McRae, Conor Harbeck #Startups #SeedFunding #EarlyStage #FounderTips
We are sensitive snowflakes for sure! ❄️
Nothing makes me eject on a meeting more than getting an EA bot asking if I'm available this one 30-min slot next week. No thanks.
Use those funds wisely! No guarantee you'll get funded again. Unless you have a Pay to play clause in your agreement.
I haven't had an EA in 14 years. I can't imagine having one while out raising money. And do founders really try to pay themselves that kind of salary at Pre-Seed?
Casey Fahey
3w
They knew I meant business when I showed up to the pitch meeting in a tuxedo! 🤵🏻♂️
Entrepreneur
3wI'm a former investment banker and hedge fund manager and a serial entrepreneur with multiple successful exits. If you take pre-seed money, keep the burn low. If possible, take no salary for 6 months, then go underpaid for another year, keep your team small, focus on building your product and landing early clients. Get your hands dirty, do the little stuff, do 100 cold calls, set up the SEM campaign yourself, write the product specs yourself, obsess over every aspect of the business. Don't take too much VC money until you achieve early product-market fit, then once you can confidently start to scale, take on some VC money and raise your salary to market average and start to bring in specialists that can maximize your growth. You will know what roles you need because you would have already done some of that work yourself. And by the way, you don't need an EA or even an AI bot, just use Calendly.