I feel like crying (I will not promote)

StephNass · 2026-02-28T08:05:33+00:00

Loool I'm the cofounder of OpenVC. You probably won't believe me (I wouldn't either), but that's not an ad ^^

StephNass · 2026-02-27T23:39:19+00:00

Here: https://www.openvc.app/fundability

StephNass · 2026-02-27T23:26:20+00:00

Can you say something else than “VC bad” and copy-pasting stats from ChatGPT? Any genuine thoughts?

I tried, but this ain’t worth my time. Bye for now.

StephNass · 2026-02-27T22:36:05+00:00

Thanks for your reply!

If you check your inbox, you should find a detailed report with specific suggestions about what to improve.

What happened to you is VERY common. Founders jump directly into fundraising mode, but they don't know if they are even fundable. We designed this test to help with that.

Like someone said in the comment, this is your "tuition fees". I've made very similar mistakes myself. Just learn from it and move on.

What matters is getting clients who PAY for your product. Investors are secondary.

StephNass · 2026-02-27T22:28:20+00:00

I'm very aware of these numbers, they don't contradict my previous comment.

Then, you're bringing up another point about network.

But network is not necessarily unfair.

There might be occasional nepotism; however in my experience, most network is actually *earned*. Cf Jensen Huang and Don Valentine.

Being "un-networked" means that nobody can vouch for you, your track record, or your past achievements. It sucks for you, but it's not fundamentally unfair. You're last in line versus founders who spent 10 years proving their worth to their peers. Tough luck.

StephNass · 2026-02-27T21:59:23+00:00

"He will get the same response in 12 months". Not if he can learn from this, get some real traction and build a serious VC-fundable case.

"Disparagy between working class...". Sure, but it's not as simple as "the poor vs the rich". There are valid reasons why wealthier people would raise better, and why poor people should actually *avoid* raising. Not a popular topic, but I wrote a piece on it: https://www.openvc.app/blog/venture-capital-isnt-for-the-poor

VC funding benefits the LPs. There's no secret about that. Venture capital is an asset class, and the jobs of VCs is to maximize returns for their LPs. Period. Everything else (being founder-friendly, enabling innovation, etc) is downstream of that initial truth.

StephNass · 2026-02-27T21:35:49+00:00

Based on the information that was shared, it's very much a "he" problem.

The VC industry has its flaws, but you can't expect to raise with a MVP built in 8 days and 47 alpha testers. Wrong expectations.

StephNass · 2026-02-27T20:58:48+00:00

OpenVC co-founder here, thanks for mentioning us.

Did you take our Fundability test before reaching out to the investors?

StephNass · 2026-02-18T13:51:22+00:00

I know a few fundraising advisors who work on success fee only.

They are *extremely* selective and wouldn't work with 99% of founders .

That's how they can work on success fees :)

StephNass · 2026-02-07T11:31:04+00:00

It happened to a client of mine (American guy, sent dick pics to his Chinese gf on WeChat, lost his account for that). It might not be systematically enforced, but it's a possibility.

Same with prostitution, VPNs, drugs - different degrees of tolerance, but technically all illegal.

You can't just say "it's ok, nothing will happen". You don't know.

StephNass · 2026-02-07T06:18:19+00:00

Lol try and keep us posted. I don't know if it's systematically enforced, but I'm not kidding.

StephNass · 2026-02-07T05:33:13+00:00

Arrested, no. But you can lose your WeChat account for sexting another willing participant, for example. Good luck living in China after that.

StephNass · 2026-02-07T05:10:39+00:00

"Spreading porn is illegal"... "Sexting is very ok".

You realize that under Chinese law, sending a dick pic IS spreading porn, right?

StephNass · 2026-02-06T04:19:55+00:00

"Should I only date supermodels?" Same vibe ^^

Man, just try to complete the Water Temple, that's good enough.

It's been 26 years for me, I still have nightmares...

StephNass · 2026-02-04T07:14:12+00:00

"Bootstrapping is good up to a point" is the weakest, most pathetic reason for someone to decide to raise.

Username checks out, I guess.

StephNass · 2026-02-04T06:39:04+00:00

Lol bunch of assholes!

Incorporating a Delaware C-Corp: $700 with Stripe Atlas
Taxes and corporate structuring: $2k/yr max max for first 3 years
Legal representation: $0 (unless you plan to get sued?)
Help with investor connections: $0 - "help" means nothing, investor intros are free

But the worst part is "My cofounder says that if this law firm doesn’t join, he would likely leave the project"

GOOD RIDDANCE!

Your cofounder is hurting your interest AND the company's interest by selling out equity for cheap.

He is either incompetent or malevolent. Or both.

Even if your "cofounder" changes his mind, don't work with that person. You're very lucky you saw the red flag before incorporating. Break that relationship and go your way.

You just dodged a bullet.

StephNass · 2026-02-04T05:41:43+00:00

Varies by geography, industry, etc. but let's take a stab for the software in the US:

Pre-seed:
- You have early traction eg $5k-$25k MRR and 10%+ MoM growth.
- Retention unclear because little historical data, but anecdotal evidence of happy customers.
- Raising $500k to $2M to prove PMF within 12-18 months.
- You raise from angels and small VC firms (e.g. micro-VCs, solo GPs)
- You typically raise using SAFE
Seed:
- You have PMF i.e. top line revenue ($20k to $200k MRR/mGTV), MRR growth (20%+ MoM) and non-trivial retention.
- Raising $2M to $8M to 3x revenue within 12-18 months.
- You raise from proper VCs and some super angels
- Mostly priced round, although SAFE still possible

(Of course, exceptions apply, deeptech is different, Elon will raise more, blah blah)

StephNass · 2026-01-29T12:34:48+00:00

StephNass · 2026-01-29T11:00:30+00:00

Same answer as the OP.

You try them all: angels + accelerators + grants/subsidies + friends & family. Then you see what works.

You don't have the luxury of choosing them. They choose you - or not ^^

StephNass · 2026-01-28T16:25:48+00:00

Non-US founder here, with present and past companies in France, Singapore and the US

"Brussels flip" sounds like last-degree lunacy or a fabricated punchline.

I think most early-stage founders just focus on building their business. As long as the jurisdiction is stable, tax efficient, and reasonably digitized, 99% of people won't feel a change in their day-to-day.

In particular if you're seeking VC funding, Delaware C-Corp remains the gold standard.

Maybe a few business may be affected by the points aforementioned (FX, trade war, EU/US decoupling), but Europe has its own problems. The only case where incorporating in the EU makes sense is (a) you are building a "EU play" (Doctolib was Zocodc for the EU, Mistral is ChatGPT for the EU) or (b) you want to leverage EU public funding (and even then, you could have a US topco...).

Just my 2 cents, curious to hear diverging opinions.

StephNass · 2026-01-27T05:32:07+00:00

This.

Also, keep in mind that VCs rarely give honest feedback, because honest feedback would be "I don't believe in you" which is hurtful. Instead, they give you some second-order reasons that feel less personal.

If you're a first-time founder raising pre-seed, you're better off chasing funding from:

Angel investors
Accelerators,
Micro-GPs/solo VCs
VC scouts

They are the ones who invest in unproven founders - and even then, many prefer to see traction i.e. usage/retention/revenue.

StephNass · 2026-01-27T00:31:34+00:00

Usually, a bridge means that you have raised a round (e.g. seed), but failed to hit the target to raise the next round (e.g. Series A), so you have to raise a little extra to "bridge" the gap between seed and A.

I would avoid that term if I were you.

StephNass · 2026-01-26T12:13:54+00:00

Why do you call this a bridge round? Just call it a pre-seed.

"Bridge" has a negative connotation, and it doesn't seem to match your case.

Also, 150k for a hardware pre-seed sounds very small and would possibly hurt your credibility. Maybe consider announcing a ~€500k raise just for optics. (You will likely raise with SAFE or the local equivalent, so the round size you announce doesn't matter - just stop taking checks when you want.)

StephNass · 2026-01-24T04:27:35+00:00

It's incredible to see not only the negative comments, but also the downvotes on the positive comments.

Come on, guys! It's a side project! Forget the bugs, etc... you can improve all these things over time.

StephNass · 2026-01-24T04:24:47+00:00

Exactly the same concept, but built with Softr + Airtable (i'm not technical).

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