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It depends on what your goals are and what your business needs. I would recommend reaching out to your local angel investors —- even if you don’t plan to fundra

by rhtgrg 4y ago

It depends on what your goals are and what your business needs. I would recommend reaching out to your local angel investors —- even if you don’t plan to fundraise with them, they usually have an avenue for you to get in touch directly with investors —- and they can interview you about your startup and dispense free advice that is much more informed than what I can give you here. Assuming you are at a very nascent stage with your startup, there are still all sorts of options out there, including but not limited to —- Kickstarter, loans, raising from friends and family, running on a shoestring budget offshore, raising convertible notes from local investors (you probably have some of these people in your extended network already), selling preorders, self-funding (e.g. via collateral loans), grants, incubators (other than YC), etc. There are a lot of variables, and several options to choose from depending on your particulars.

opportune 4y ago
Thanks! Yeah I guess to be more specific, what meant to ask is: besides YC and angel investors, what will help me as much or better than YC? Particularly in the context of the person I was replying to saying that people with my background can potentially find better deals than with YC (which I guess I assumed meant in terms of VC - you’re right that it probably helps with alternative funding routes too). Like, what better incubators or accelerators will be looking at 5+ years at FAANG as a shoe-in (honestly, I’m a bit skeptical that’s even a shoe in at at YC, but what do I know) and give me better terms and/or more support? I know Sequioa has a small incubator now and I’ve actually talked to them, but I assume there are some good ones out there that would be hard to learn about except through word of mouth.
- rhtgrg 4y ago
  You might be able to find some of those, but you probably don't want to work with incubators or accelerators that consider anybody -- let alone such a large absolute number of people as "ex-FAANG" -- a "shoo-in". Just think about the second order consequences of that. And yes, when it comes to startups (i.e. business) and funding, word of mouth is very powerful and not to be underestimated.

by rhtgrg 4y ago

opportune 4y ago

Thanks! Yeah I guess to be more specific, what meant to ask is: besides YC and angel investors, what will help me as much or better than YC? Particularly in the context of the person I was replying to saying that people with my background can potentially find better deals than with YC (which I guess I assumed meant in terms of VC - you’re right that it probably helps with alternative funding routes too). Like, what better incubators or accelerators will be looking at 5+ years at FAANG as a shoe-in (honestly, I’m a bit skeptical that’s even a shoe in at at YC, but what do I know) and give me better terms and/or more support? I know Sequioa has a small incubator now and I’ve actually talked to them, but I assume there are some good ones out there that would be hard to learn about except through word of mouth.

rhtgrg 4y ago
You might be able to find some of those, but you probably don't want to work with incubators or accelerators that consider anybody -- let alone such a large absolute number of people as "ex-FAANG" -- a "shoo-in". Just think about the second order consequences of that. And yes, when it comes to startups (i.e. business) and funding, word of mouth is very powerful and not to be underestimated.