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- ♞ Ways to play the VC game
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Three ways to play…
One of the most common reasons founders fail to close a round isn’t a bad product—it’s strategic misalignment. They walk into a meeting pitching a "Game 3" vision to a "Game 1" investor, or vice versa.
In the venture world, you aren't just building a company; you are choosing a financial instrument. There are three distinct ways to play the VC game. If you don't know which one you’re in, you’re essentially flying blind.
Seed Strapping
This is for the founder who wants to use venture capital as a springboard, not a permanent life-support system.
The Strategy: Raise a single, meaningful round (usually from Angels or Seed-stage VCs) to reach self-sustainability or a clear exit path.
The Goal: Get off the ground, find product-market fit, and then fuel growth through revenue rather than more dilution.
The Trade-off: You might move slower than the competition, but you retain a massive amount of "Category Sovereignty" and optionality.
Milestone Chasing
This is the classic venture path. You treat capital as a tool to be unlocked at specific levels of achievement.
The Strategy: Raise Pre-Seed, Seed, then Series A and B only when you hit clear revenue or growth benchmarks.
The Goal: Optimize the timing of each round to minimize dilution. You only take the "next hit" of capital when your valuation has jumped enough to make it cheap.
The Trade-off: You are constantly in "fundraising mode." Every 18 months, you have to prove your worth to the market all over again.
Rocketship
This is the high-status, high-stakes game. This is about total market domination.
The Strategy: Raise as much capital as the market will give you, at the highest valuation possible, as fast as you can.
The Goal: Become the "Category King." You use capital as a weapon to out-hire, out-market, and out-run everyone else in the space.
The Trade-off: This is the highest-risk path. You are "pricing in" massive future success. If you miss a milestone, the "down-round" can be fatal. You’ve traded control for a seat on a rocketship.
Are you looking to fundraise? Here is how I can help:
📱 Book a Strategy Call to get 1:1 feedback on your pitch, pitch deck and/or fundraising strategy.
Onwards and Upwards,
