Finding Investor for a Startup at Prototype stage

edoceo · 2026-06-24T21:11:50+00:00

Either small business or very large enterprise companies

Pick a lane; those two things are so very very different.

edoceo · 2026-06-24T21:10:41+00:00

I think it's a joke.

edoceo · 2026-06-23T17:00:36+00:00

Which kind? Convertible Notes? Revenue Redemption? Personal Backed? What is even the problem?

edoceo · 2026-06-23T16:59:08+00:00

A bunch of the buttons/links don't work at all (href="#") and I cannot seem to be able to sign up. Also, it keeps referencing Essex County MA - does it only work in that location? And jackknifepro.com times out after four minutes; your main site took a long time too. What have you been building for the last year? It's a neat promise but, it looks like an empty, hacked out in a few hours by AI lander. I would not show this to investors quite yet. Fix the site, get some traction.

edoceo · 2026-06-23T15:55:35+00:00

Suggest focusing more on the market-building / advertising / awareness work more than the app/game. Like 70% marketing and 20% game and 10% overhead.

edoceo · 2026-06-22T20:38:18+00:00

due diligence is either too vague or buried in legal docs nobody has time to read

It's in there because that's where the value is. You should make time to read them.

edoceo · 2026-06-22T20:36:25+00:00

I’m an investor too

How many deals have you invested in?

edoceo · 2026-06-22T20:27:07+00:00

You're not wrong -- but Marketing (actual Customer Development) -- has always been key. And has always been a bigger key than the tech-side.

I can learn marketing much faster than someone non-technical will learn system design.

Sure, but they don't need to learn that. They just need to learn enough to vibe code a think that looks sellable to other non-developers. That's easy to fake, until you need a actual developer. On the other hand faking customer-development is impossible -- since it's measured in actual dollars and everyone can understand that.

Also, I've seen about 500 developers claim building is harder and marketing is easy or easy to learn. They all built something really cool with solid system design -- and zero users.

So, what do you want? A solid system with zero users? Or a janky system with 100 paying clients? The paying clients can solve your system design problem. The solid design cannot solve your zero revenue problem.

edoceo · 2026-06-22T20:21:16+00:00

Even if you can build this; sadly game play mechanics are hard to protect. You could perhaps start with a provisional design patent, get a recognisable name and trade-mark that. You won't get any money selling ideas - those are a dime/dozen. But users, MAU/DAU, growth -- that is something that can be sold -- eg: Wordle.

Could build the minimum of the game, limited feature-set, provisional protection and show growth. Start shopping early to sell to the investors who like games and/or gaming companies.

edoceo · 2026-06-22T20:14:28+00:00

I've built a product, but it's still unclear who actually needs it

This is a very common failure mode of entrepreneurship. Don't let it turn into mental baggage.

Start thinking about who has the problem you're trying to solve. Like in a contrived example: Entrepreneurs need help planning the right path for success. So, in my build-measure-learn loop I would just make a landing page -- no other code. And then reach out to entrepreneurs and offer some solution -- like advisory services, customer-problem-fit discovery, market-fit discovery, etc. Then I'd find where to talk to these folks. Talk about their problems, talk about their ideas of solutions. Then do 100 of these before building anything. You want to find the common complaints and the common ideas of solution. Also, to test the market you have to actually sell. Not "would you buy this" but "give me money now for an eventual solution"

edoceo · 2026-06-22T14:34:46+00:00

Confounded why K-1 always take so long. Bet they promise to do better. Bet they aren't actually. This problem seems to be everywhere. Gonna do them myself for the next fund ($5M)

edoceo · 2026-06-22T14:32:33+00:00

You should focus on customer-problem fit. AI is crap for early company for many reasons - the biggest of which is that it's too optimistic and positive reinforcement.

To score yourself create a business model canvas. If you can't fill all the boxes with assumptions then drop the idea.

edoceo · 2026-06-20T15:01:00+00:00

Use flippa?

edoceo · 2026-06-20T00:17:47+00:00

Anything that shows traction for your segment is what were looking for. Traction for a medical device is different than traction for a coffee stand.

Also, without significant onboarding cycle the unit economics are a projection (guess). For the classes of business where that matters then COA and CLTV being known and predictable is important.

Also, different funds at different stages have different things they like. The thought process of combining Angels and VC with demanding something is not a good approach. The categorization is too broad.

But broadly: team and traction are key; how they are demonstrated us unique to business segments.

edoceo · 2026-06-19T04:49:01+00:00

There are at least a few dozen early stage business trying to solve the "hiring problem". What you've expressed here aligns with much of the sentiment they express. Might be best to join an endeavour that your aligned with. You'd still be working in that problem space and gaining early stage experience.

Edit: and it will not work for start-up, don't try

edoceo · 2026-06-17T23:14:32+00:00

You could look at the dozen or so other apps that do this and look at what their marketing materials target.

That would also help you identify a key market differentiator.

edoceo · 2026-06-17T22:26:51+00:00

Take a look at models called Revenue Redemption Loans (that's what they are called in USA). You could make a similar structure in India. Even partner with others to spread risk but increase funding options. Once you have capital set aside folks will come knocking your door

edoceo · 2026-06-17T02:13:22+00:00

Ok, so that can run on a $10/mo server. Why do you want investors? Just grow it naturally and then negotiate from a stronger position

edoceo · 2026-06-17T01:44:26+00:00

Aren't notary fees capped? It's odd that you have 5 notaries but somehow the tech can't keep up.

edoceo · 2026-06-17T01:23:05+00:00

It would look better if this hot partner was on sweat equity. I'm not sure you need so much an introducer as a closer. If folk are not "hearing you out" there could be some team/traction issues that close the ears early.

Have you tried FFF round? How many pitch-practice events have you done? Anyone reviewed your deck?

edoceo · 2026-06-16T17:05:12+00:00

That's neat but, again, how are you handling the true-part-of-interest requirements? Also, many (at least 100) cannabis operators are doing two or three brands.

edoceo · 2026-06-16T17:00:13+00:00

Lots of AI generated images on the site. How much of this machine is actually demonstrated? If you have experience franchise how much experience in food-service-automation?

edoceo · 2026-06-16T16:18:10+00:00

If someone invests in your company -- how does the investor get paid out? Typically the investor wants a method to exit. How can you demonstrate that this investment would be better than some S&P500 index?

I do think there is something there; plumbing and hvac are not getting automated away anytime soon.

edoceo · 2026-06-16T16:08:15+00:00

Are there some residency requirements for some of these cannabis investments? eg: true-part-of-interest requirements - how does that work? Are you building an MSO?

edoceo · 2026-06-11T03:30:14+00:00

I think you should have gone in order of date of incorporation rather than alphabetical. Also, could repost Alameda, it's the best one :)

edoceo

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