The cost of customer acquisition is sky high. Now, if I can pull a series A out before I get a customer, this might be fine. However, the pipeline is long, and

The cost of customer acquisition is sky high. Now, if I can pull a series A out before I get a customer, this might be fine. However, the pipeline is long, and nothing is guaranteed. Here's a personal example. The company I just finished a contract with was looking to purchase a product that will cost in the low 5 digits. The company spent two months on due diligence in between dozens of fires to fight. Even after selecting the company, it may be two to three more months before they actually buy the product. So, that's four to five months between initial contact and sale for a product in the low 5 digits. When I worked on products for governments, we had people specially working on RFPs and they would put man-months into these, and an answer could be up to a year away. Now, it's possible to get into the business without this, but you have to have an in for your first client.