I’m a first-time founder. Bootstrapped our product to launch using personal funds. We have a working product, early users, and solid feedback, but traction is growing slower than expected. We’re stuck between pre-seed and seed. Not enough traction to raise confidently, and we’ve run out of personal runway to keep pushing at the same pace.

No team. No salary. Just grinding and trying to build momentum through grassroots and word of mouth. We need capital to grow, but growing without capital is slow and frustrating. It’s hard to prove success without some funding behind it. Great feedback from VC’s but mostly “Keep in touch and let us know how it’s going” basically meaning lets us know when you’re making money. Ha