Chasing investors can sink your startup

Why you need to stop chasing investors
Read time 2.0 minutes.

Too many early founders measure progress in meetings with VCs instead of conversations with customers. It feels exciting when a big-name fund takes the call. But raising capital isn’t proof that your business is working; paying users are.

Here’s the uncomfortable truth: investors don’t create markets, customers do. A startup without users is like a car without fuel; no amount of investors in the passenger seat will get it moving.

Here is what you should be chasing: (i) customers who buy and stay/repurchase, (ii) a product that solves a real pain point, (iii) consistent usage that grows week after week.

These are the signals investors actually respond to. They follow traction, not hype.

Instead of asking, “How many investor calls did I book this month?” ask:
→ How many new customers paid me?
→ Are existing ones returning?
→ Would my product be missed if it disappeared tomorrow?

If you can’t answer those questions with conviction, no round of financing will save you.

Here are some basic rules that I’d recommend that you always follow:

• Sell early, even if it’s scrappy.

• Only build once people are willing to pay.

• Release quickly and often.

• Talk to real users every single day.

• Treat fundraising as fuel, not as validation.

Capital should scale momentum, not create it.

Onwards and Upwards,

Liam Gill