Ask HN: Fundraise for a side-project, or go full-time first?
2 comments
Out of curiosity, how did you find your customers? I'm building out my MVP to scratch my own itch, but have been hesitating putting it in front of others.
My advice is to get it in front of others as soon as possible. Even if it's just mock flows, it's fantastic getting feedback and even lining up real customers who are ready to onboard when you first launch.
We've been doing a lot of outreach on social media platforms like Twitter. It's been pretty easy finding people who are part of our target audience, and asking them if they'd be happy jumping on a 15 minute zoom call to help give us some feedback.
We've been doing a lot of outreach on social media platforms like Twitter. It's been pretty easy finding people who are part of our target audience, and asking them if they'd be happy jumping on a 15 minute zoom call to help give us some feedback.
Interesting. Guess I'll have to figure out social media after all. Thanks.
I'm not the one to ask, but if I had to guess, it seems like investors would want to see that you're already full time.
Say you have a side-project that has started to pick up a bunch of momentum. You have a solid MVP, you have customers lining up at the door to use it, and you don't have a huge amount of expenses to keep it running, yet.
Your plan is to raise a seed round and go full time.
Do you go full time first, then start to raise?
Or do you try to raise with the expectation that you'll go full time once funding comes through? Free from the distraction of "how will I pay my mortgage?", with a straightforward transition from a full time job to a full time startup role.
Do VCs tend to prefer the former, or is it ever typical for founders to raise and then go full time?