AI startup here ; with revenue, 15% month-on-month growth for an entire year.
Currently raising pre-seed. Have raised from family and friend (singular) a small amount.
So most everybody I'm talking to is basically new to the "how does startup investing work" conversation.
I had high hopes it would be easier and faster than the VC option... It's not really. It's taking forever.
Am considering whether the problem is that I'm not asking big enough... (Our ask is $30k to $150k, aiming to do a $300k round). My initial thought was, let's start with a F&F round and not go the VC route yet. (YC would be great though)
I'm now thinking, maybe we should raise a more traditional VC round with a much bigger ask.
It'll all work out, and it will be a great story for the documentary :)