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Just to contribute a data point: We were lucky enough to be accepted to YC a couple batches ago. It took us about 2 months of constant pitching and investor w

Just to contribute a data point: We were lucky enough to be accepted to YC a couple batches ago. It took us about 2 months of constant pitching and investor wrangling to close our seed round after demo day. It is great that the original post brought you some initial visibility. It is not clear to me that you have done much to proactively capitalize on that.

citizenkeys 16y ago
Well... that's what this particular thread is all about. What exactly should I do "to proactively capitalize" my "initial visibility"?
- answerly 16y ago
  For example... I just looked up your LinkedIn profile and you have a contact that is connected to 5 entrepreneurs that I happen to also know who have raised seed funding. Have you tried reaching out to that person to get intros to those entrepreneurs (4 of which have raised money in the last 3-6 months)?
  - citizenkeys 16y ago
    My personal belief is that a broad "anybody want to help" approach is better than a creepy "in your face" approach to a particular person. I would think that singling-out a particular person and harassing them would result in burning all sorts of bridges. That's just my particular belief. Seriously, What other suggestions you got?
    - answerly 16y ago
      Unfortunately, your belief in this regard is the exact opposite of what investors tend to suggest when asked how they can be reached. Investors want a genuine introduction from a single trusted source like a portfolio CEO or another investor that they have done deals with. The good news is that entrepreneurs typically really like helping out other entrepreneurs with advice and connections when they can. But, entrepreneurs also tend to very, very busy running their startups. So, leaving it up to someone else to take the initiative in order to secure the outcome you want may not be the best course of action.
    - martinkallstrom 16y ago
      That particular belief was actually one of the most counter-productive ones I have come across. Not only will you never get a meeting with a business angel unless you actually reach out to anyone. If your own view of your business potential is that pitching it to someone would pretty much amount to harassing that person, then maybe your idea needs a little more work. Bottom line is that neither job offers or angel financing will come to you as a result of you indicating that you need it in a comment on a web page. You need to talk to actual people (yes, to their faces) and tell them what's in it for them. It's not about them helping you, it's you offering them something valuable. By the way, if your site has nothing to do with torrents, maybe the word torrent shouldn't be in the name? To not confuse people.
      - citizenkeys 16y ago
        I agree that seeking "face time" with particular people is useful and necessary. But the initial comment sounded like I should stalk people, corner them, and in general be a jerk. I refuse to do that. I also agree that the idea "needs a little work", probably more than a little. That's what seed money is intended to address: keeping a roof over my head while I work on the idea. To paraphrase Paul Graham, for the third time in this thread, the final product tends to look very little like the initial idea. Yes, I agree the site probably needs a name change. The very initial idea in this case was user-created lists of bittorrent files, "Wikipedia meets BitTorrent", if you will. I've modified the idea to include links to videos that are not bittorrent files, including youtube, vimeo, posterous, and justin.tv. So yeah, the site probably needs a name change, which I've considered for awhile.
        answerly 16y ago
        >But the initial comment sounded like I should stalk people, corner them, and in general be a jerk. I refuse to do that. Thats a pretty big leap from my initial suggestion of asking one of your existing LinkedIn contacts to introduce you to one of their existing LinkedIn contacts that may be able to help you out. You've got some good food for thought and advice from others throughout this thread. I'd suggest taking a time out, coming back and reading through the 30ish posts here with as objective an eye as possible.

citizenkeys 16y ago

Well... that's what this particular thread is all about. What exactly should I do "to proactively capitalize" my "initial visibility"?

answerly 16y ago
For example... I just looked up your LinkedIn profile and you have a contact that is connected to 5 entrepreneurs that I happen to also know who have raised seed funding. Have you tried reaching out to that person to get intros to those entrepreneurs (4 of which have raised money in the last 3-6 months)?
- citizenkeys 16y ago
  My personal belief is that a broad "anybody want to help" approach is better than a creepy "in your face" approach to a particular person. I would think that singling-out a particular person and harassing them would result in burning all sorts of bridges. That's just my particular belief. Seriously, What other suggestions you got?
  - answerly 16y ago
    Unfortunately, your belief in this regard is the exact opposite of what investors tend to suggest when asked how they can be reached. Investors want a genuine introduction from a single trusted source like a portfolio CEO or another investor that they have done deals with. The good news is that entrepreneurs typically really like helping out other entrepreneurs with advice and connections when they can. But, entrepreneurs also tend to very, very busy running their startups. So, leaving it up to someone else to take the initiative in order to secure the outcome you want may not be the best course of action.
  - martinkallstrom 16y ago
    That particular belief was actually one of the most counter-productive ones I have come across. Not only will you never get a meeting with a business angel unless you actually reach out to anyone. If your own view of your business potential is that pitching it to someone would pretty much amount to harassing that person, then maybe your idea needs a little more work. Bottom line is that neither job offers or angel financing will come to you as a result of you indicating that you need it in a comment on a web page. You need to talk to actual people (yes, to their faces) and tell them what's in it for them. It's not about them helping you, it's you offering them something valuable. By the way, if your site has nothing to do with torrents, maybe the word torrent shouldn't be in the name? To not confuse people.
    - citizenkeys 16y ago
      I agree that seeking "face time" with particular people is useful and necessary. But the initial comment sounded like I should stalk people, corner them, and in general be a jerk. I refuse to do that. I also agree that the idea "needs a little work", probably more than a little. That's what seed money is intended to address: keeping a roof over my head while I work on the idea. To paraphrase Paul Graham, for the third time in this thread, the final product tends to look very little like the initial idea. Yes, I agree the site probably needs a name change. The very initial idea in this case was user-created lists of bittorrent files, "Wikipedia meets BitTorrent", if you will. I've modified the idea to include links to videos that are not bittorrent files, including youtube, vimeo, posterous, and justin.tv. So yeah, the site probably needs a name change, which I've considered for awhile.
      - answerly 16y ago
        >But the initial comment sounded like I should stalk people, corner them, and in general be a jerk. I refuse to do that. Thats a pretty big leap from my initial suggestion of asking one of your existing LinkedIn contacts to introduce you to one of their existing LinkedIn contacts that may be able to help you out. You've got some good food for thought and advice from others throughout this thread. I'd suggest taking a time out, coming back and reading through the 30ish posts here with as objective an eye as possible.