Thx boss, do you manage different teams through Trello? we initially built Hillo for our own internal use. We have many teams working on different projects, so staying in sync was a bit of an issue for us. We wanted a way to prioritize our interventions. Activity seemed like the first and legit indicator to track.
Smart people tend to prefer to listen to themselves and trust their gut, works fine in some cases but not when you're early stage. I think listening is a VERY HARD skill to acquire but once you have it things will magically start to make more sense.
> Traction happens because of media exposure, which happens because of funding, etc.
I believe funding isn't the only source of media exposure. You can get traction by creating something people want first, then use a lot of channels like HN itself, reddit and product hunt to get your initial traction. Those initial efforts may get you in an accelerator, or even get you your first seed round. So I think there is a lot a founder can do before hitting the funding milestone.