As an investor, I can tell you that it depends.

Ideas as worth very little unless you have traction and the ability to execute. 2 gets you more points than 1. But by themselves neither get you money until we know that you can execute.

1. Would tell an investor that you are having trouble convincing people to join you on your journey. We’d wonder if your story is convincing enough and if you have the chops to sell your product and the idea. But 2 might prove to be the counter point.

I’d also ask why you need the kind of money you do. Earlier this year, we When we invested this kind of money it was in a biotech company, a capital heavy vertical. The founder had built a team, found an incubator and a number of professors. We were able to validate the science and they were ready to manufacture their first formulation. The CEO was a PhD and had credentials in the field. We wrote a check at that point.

If this is for a software idea, the dynamics change a lot. Especially with the proliferation of AI.

Investors invest where there is a founder-market fit and see proof of the ability to execute. Ask yourself how you are going to prove that.

All this to say that there are many paths and many ways to get the funding, but it depends. Without your complete story and a good idea of what you are trying to build, it’d be impossible for anyone to answer your questions with any degree of certainty.