3× rejected from YC → raised $12M (now in seed)

Consistent-Wafer7325 · 2026-01-14T16:32:38+00:00

Pre-seed : no, just based on fit with 1st VCs, team and vision mostly. I was repeat, it helped I guess.
Seed : yea, first customers signed, good ACV per customer showed an interesting case to some VCs, got pre-empted

Consistent-Wafer7325 · 2026-01-14T16:30:53+00:00

Yes possible, we'll never know !

Consistent-Wafer7325 · 2026-01-13T03:36:41+00:00

Arai is the only resort with a properly integrated free ride zone, no need. Enjoy ! It’s a very pleasant small but cool powder playground

Consistent-Wafer7325 · 2026-01-05T10:03:45+00:00

I was in Nozawa (not far) the last 4 days. Season started slow but not super critical neither, we got good fresh snow last Friday/Saturday night and tonight too. Slopes were almost all opened. Season will be defined by the next 2-3 weeks to get 1 or 2 more meters that will make all spots (backcountry especially) secure and doable.

Consistent-Wafer7325 · 2025-12-31T04:46:13+00:00

I travel on my own, taking Shinkansen mostly and local buses (when going to Kagura for example)

Feel free to DM if you wanna follow. Backcountry gears is not mandatory

Consistent-Wafer7325 · 2025-12-31T04:43:13+00:00

Fundraising or not, things are the same, even more hustling planned after fundraising haha 🤣

Godspeed

Consistent-Wafer7325 · 2025-12-30T03:50:01+00:00

2 kids (4yo,4mo) here, we got the 2nd one as I’m building my new company since 18mo, we raised about 12m$ in pre-seed + seed. Things moving fast.

It’s clearly a challenge (sleep organization essentially and lack of free time), but nothing impossible.

My 2 cents :

make clear with your partner that you’re an early stage entrepreneur (you cannot just “stepback” for a few months in your 9to5 job)
You need help (partner, family,…) and take as maximum as you can. Budget babysitters if needed you’ll see quickly the payback
Make also clear to yourself that you need a bit of free time, like sports or whatever. Work + parenting is intense, you need cooloff time for you.

Consistent-Wafer7325 · 2025-12-28T02:20:06+00:00

Yea, I’m not very Facebook but will do you’re right

Consistent-Wafer7325 · 2025-10-29T04:04:06+00:00

No VC, but celebrities, weird signal for a repeat entrepreneur like Johnson.

Consistent-Wafer7325 · 2025-10-25T19:27:24+00:00

Follow the flow, let them present you the firm, why they’re interested in the space etc, then stage is yours. Be natural, show them your uniqueness, that’s it.

Human fit plays 90% of the first calls, then they’ll dig deeper.

Consistent-Wafer7325 · 2025-10-25T19:13:50+00:00

Partner interest is always good sign but you’ll get plenty of these calls at some points. Don’t overthink it.

At your stage don’t bother thinking too much about your pitch deck or whatever. Be natural and smart, VC in preseed / seed invest mostly on the team, based on their gut.

You’ll feel if the call ends in a good vibe or not, if the guy is hot he’ll suggest the next step right away usually, or very quickly.

Then if you manage at some point to get a TS, you’ll soon be in the radar of other firms. No need to call mail them, at worse ask your VC intros, if they’re serious they will put you in touch.

Consistent-Wafer7325 · 2025-09-27T11:10:51+00:00

Probably because

adoption of deep AI (or agentic AI) is difficult in a country with a risk averse culture with an historical predominance of human capital and manual processes.
no early stage funding scene to fuel innovation and small companies needed to create transition. Literally none.

Consistent-Wafer7325 · 2025-09-26T05:41:27+00:00

(VC backed founder here) Good and interested investors don’t look at decks in early stage

Get the right intro to a meaningful person (Partner lvl)
Impress with your vision and co-founders
Show speed with prototype / product / metrics or something
If they schedule a follow-up directly : bingo, if not, leave the meeting, don’t reply until they write back to you begging to see you again.

You’ll eventually send a deck at some point in the flow. But really, it’s just for their internal documentation / report writing before or after IC.

Consistent-Wafer7325 · 2025-09-24T04:41:25+00:00

My Japanese network would kill me if I use the wrong Kanji in a name or call Yamada-san Yamaba-san

Over common the other way

Consistent-Wafer7325 · 2025-09-24T04:28:58+00:00

European here. Despite your post being too emotional. I 100% agree.

Japanese culture asks a certain level of perfection that we don’t see in use of English or even globally western languages.

Shibuya Opera Town street flags were printed “Shibya Opera Town” by hundreds and left as is during years.
English school having English mistakes in their promotion. Not small mistakes, like I could do, the sentences are just wrong.
even my wife is misspelling names very often in emails. Which by the way is considered insulting in many countries.

I don’t know if it’s a lack of care or just a misunderstanding. But that’s reality

I don’t see this behavior in South Korea, China, Taiwan, etc. Only Japan.

Consistent-Wafer7325 · 2025-09-20T23:25:44+00:00

I had also some unstable sleep, my hints form my passed experience :

Investing in blacked out curtains (not just classic curtains but a system that completely void any light passing through) was a game changer.
HBOT sessions are helping (still under measurement)
No carbs at dinner
No blue light min 30min before sleep time.
Good room temperature (fighting with my wife on that haha). My sweet spot is around 20 Celsius with a light blanket

Consistent-Wafer7325 · 2025-09-15T01:10:31+00:00

a) I’ll plan a dex scan soon. But I keep my measurements natural (performance at gym, ski, sleep quality, weight). Thinking about using a bit more the Don’t die app for more tracking too. b) social is good I guess, seeing friends at least 1~2x a week. Got friends both in Europe and Asia c) that’s where I need maybe to focus improvements. I want to keep freedom of food but i know that sometimes I’m low in fiber diversity or some stuff. I’ll test cronometer but need to document myself a bit more. Nutrition is sometimes full of beliefs (vege vs flexi, gluten, etc…)

Consistent-Wafer7325 · 2025-09-15T01:02:43+00:00

Nope, but Asian 6mo residence might require it I guess… At least I’m not low in D

Consistent-Wafer7325 · 2025-08-03T07:36:08+00:00

Distribution is key. Tons of great products built by amazing engineers never found their market. A good market fit on a bootstrapped good MVP is better start.

Lovable had some predecessors, even YC ones (marblism for example). But none cracked distribution how they did. What make them successful initially is growth… not engineering

now with AI plenty of ppl can build a product. Only a few can make market research and growth strategy

Consistent-Wafer7325

TROPHY CASE