5 ms·
How stealth hasn't helped us one bit.
Here is a list of 5 reasons being stealth has done nothing but provide problems.
1. Single founder. I'm on my own on this, me myself and I.
2. Harder to convince people that an idea form nowhere is plausible.
3. Seed investment was super hard when I wouldn't even tell investors what I was working on.
4. Lack of new connections. Almost Chinese wall between myself and other Entrepreneurs.
5. Feedback hasn't been allowed from sources that could provide that much needed kick up the arse.
Next time round I'm going to tell the world. Literally, I'm not going to hide one thing and I'm glad I did it this way. It means I will NEVER do it again.
- noahc 15y agoIn my mind Stealth doesn't mean TOP SECRET no one can know. It comes in degrees. Your investors probably know, you share your idea with people you trust who can give you feedback and could even have paying customers/beta users and still be in 'stealth' mode as you try to find product market fit. Stealth mode means you haven't announced anything publicly. Getting customers, investors and advice privately is perfectly okay.
- nirvana 15y agoI'm curious as to why you did it this way. I'm kinda surprised that you didn't tell your investors (and you got investment!) Most stealth companies let their investors know. The thing I like about being "stealth" is that we can make changes without having external expectations to deal with. Probably the only time we'll be able to do this.
- mrkmcknz 15y agoI kind of only truly pitched to one investor. He invested luckily. Probably because he's almost family more than anything else.
- FrojoS 15y agoBut you wouldn't tell him?
- mrkmcknz 15y agoI told him a overview, so brief I wouldn't personally of invested.
- palish 15y agoAhh, good old St Louis, Missouri, where everyone has so much money that they're willing to invest in pretty much any random jibber-jabber. Ha. There I go again, pretending I live around stuff-that-matters. Never come here.
- abbasmehdi 15y agoWould #3 above not anger investors for wasting their time? I cannot see someone being happy after taking the time to talk to you, especially if they are busy, and you don't want to talk and ask them for money. Here is a test to see if your idea is or isn't pursuing: ask yourself if I tell everyone then would I have no competitive advantage? If the answer is 'yes' then don't build it. Here is why: you know when you tell everyone what you're doing? On the day of your launch. So if you have no advantage over anyone after launching, then why do it? You must bring something to the table. Maybe you should think harder about what you are doing at that point.
- GrayGaffer 15y agoNDA? With investors, at least?
- twopounder 15y agoMost of the angel groups I've looked at won't sign NDA's. They expect you to be at a point where you are ready to disclose your project. As much as we want to be the first to announce or offer our idea, producing a good product is far more important. The honest truth is that you will have competition, no matter how secretive you are. You can't hide the idea if you want to make money. I agree with abbasmehdi's comment.
- v01 15y agoThis looks like a circlejerk to me. To summarize: You are a single "founder" who got an "investment" from a single person you pitched to, because he's almost like family. No offence, but what you're describing is not a startup but more of a project you had and didn't complete. It just sounds that way.
- FrojoS 15y agoSo now, will you tell us what you build?
- mrkmcknz 15y agoI'm building a social payments service. Where you can send money to anyone you know direct into their bank account for a small %. The money appears in ones account in no more than 15minutes. We're going to be launching in around 16weeks in the US. The UK a little after. Funnily enough our sign up page goes live in about one week.