Good question. Before I answer, why do you think you need to raise a round? Communities like this one (although I’m much indebted to it) create a presumption th

Good question. Before I answer, why do you think you need to raise a round? Communities like this one (although I’m much indebted to it) create a presumption that investment is a good thing. And sometimes it ain’t. Think carefully about your personal objectives. They won’t necessarily be satisfied by an investment. That said, the way to raise capital if you need to is: 1. Work for income and to fund basic build-out 2. Look for grants. In some sectors such as green tech these are widely available. A friend just raised 1m, no loss of equity. 3. Look for opportunities where big raises are not needed. If your main advantage is that you have a shit ton of cash to build your business, that’s going to get competed away pretty quickly, as theirs a lot of cheap money swilling around. And remember mo’ money, mo’ problems. It sort of burns a hole in your pocket, makes you lazy, allows you to take inefficient decisions. As an addition: I once went to an accelerator where one of the slick VCs said, “if you want to raise money from me, you’ll need to find me through my business school network”. What a divot. Would you honestly want to work for an investor with attitudes like that?