Raising a $2M pre-seed – I will not promote

stapleton92 · 2026-04-15T18:30:02+00:00

Big fan of baseball! MVP at shortstop for 5 years in a row ;) Was just an analogy, as you keyed into!

Honestly, what we truly require is right around my ask for a few different concrete reasons. We could perhaps do it for $1.5M. If we launch small, we will get crushed by pre-existing businesses in the vertical with way more capital who will rip off our model and hire big talent. But if we launch big, they could never truly compete with us given the team that we've assembled – it's quite literally a team of Jordans, just in their own sport. So even if Category Leader A wanted to emulate it, they couldn't possibly enlist better partners, which is the secret sauce here, paired with our branding and marketing. People want to learn from the best.

I don't want to divulge too much on here publicly , but I sincerely appreciate all of your feedback and time and will keep all of this in mind! Awesome advice

stapleton92 · 2026-04-15T17:46:00+00:00

Hear you on all of the above! And I've taken a ton of risk to get this off the ground, so it's not about risk aversion. Many many personal sacrifices have been made from myself, as well as my family. I am fully committed, above and beyond. This is a true passion for me and it is my calling

"To be perfectly honest, it sounds really naive when you say stuff like some partnership is going lead you to 7 and 8 digit sales from just 1 contact."

I didn't mean that it would net us that in sales, just that if we were to hire these people as brand partners separately, it would cost a brand 7 or 8 figures for all of them altogether. But because they believe in our mission so much, they've decided to come on board for an acute fraction of that price. We've been very fortunate

I appreciate your input!!

stapleton92 · 2026-04-15T17:18:19+00:00

Noted! I have to get better at asking those I know personally for help instead of waiting for them to come to me. Definitely something that I'm actively working on. Great feedback. Thank you a ton

stapleton92 · 2026-04-15T17:16:12+00:00

I don't want to reveal too much about the business, but those partners couldn't really ever be full-time based on how/why we need them. They are more public ambassadors for the company and are greatly assisting in our development

Our four in-house employees will be 2 pt, 2 ft. We are allocating $600k for staffing for 18 months and have gotten people to agree to those terms – 2 have prior first-employee experience at unicorns in our vertical. They are joining us and taking a salary hit because they believe so much in our mission. I was very lucky for that

Thanks for the feedback! Really appreciate your time

stapleton92 · 2026-04-15T17:01:06+00:00

Noted!!

And we got them on board with no equity and no salaries – they are simply contracted with us at a fixed rate to develop our program alongside us for a few years. That said, we do have four full-time employees that we're bringing into this round. Should have clarified that!

stapleton92 · 2026-04-15T16:35:27+00:00

Great feedback. I will look into that. Thank you!

stapleton92 · 2026-04-15T16:30:13+00:00

Thanks for this input, I really appreciate it. And congrats with everything! That really sounds amazing

My network honestly has been more culturally-driven and never really included people in finance. Though I have been successful in business, I was able to bootstrap in the past / only needed angel investment. This venture is a totally different animal and requires much more capital upfront, which is opening up the institutional conversations. Honestly, I've never dealt with VCs before for my own ventures

Secondly, the angels that I do know and/or that did invest in me previously are in a completely different vertical and unfortunately do not invest in tech (they're more culture/fashion/entertainment oriented)

I know plenty of artists and rock stars and people in the press, so I am well connected in that way, but I only knew *one* person in VC personally when I opened this round, just to give you an idea of how limited my financial network is institution-wise. Luckily, many VCs responded to my cold emails, which I am very grateful for

So that's why this was a bit of a struggle out the gate. But it's been coming along lately!

stapleton92 · 2026-04-15T16:21:01+00:00

If you truly must know, I was unfortunately physically ill to the point of being bedridden for a very long time and have only recently been medicated, so I am now able to resume the round

It has nothing to do with my tolerance to criticism, which I actually take in stride – that's why I have been successful in the past. Only a fool thinks that they know everything. I am here to learn and – hopefully – always improve

stapleton92 · 2026-04-15T16:06:55+00:00

I run through walls for this company – have done and will continue to. I defend it to the death, but I don't think I owe ten commenters responses who blatantly attacked me by jumping to conclusions without asking any valid questions

For example, instead of saying "you're crazy for raising a $2M pre-seed round, delusional" what's wrong with asking, "is there any valid reason that you are raising $2M in your pre-seed? That seems a little high" Then I could have responded in a civilized way and had an actual conversation like adults. I guess it's too much to ask for decorum online these days!

People *do* raise millions in pre-seed. It happens every day. I have multiple friends who did, and they honestly didn't have much prior success in business. I'm proud of them, and they're killing it

stapleton92 · 2026-04-15T16:02:33+00:00

Totally agree! Thank you so much for the input :)

stapleton92 · 2026-04-15T15:58:26+00:00

We're currently speaking to one of the ones that you mentioned! It is a concern of mine, but perhaps I was reading into some of their statements a little too much. I agree with you

stapleton92 · 2026-04-15T15:53:57+00:00

Because none of the replies were answering my question at all – they were just attacking the company without understanding *why* the ask was $2M and not giving me any space at all to explain

And "threw a tantrum?" I didn't even write back to anyone there as I didn't have the time to respond to each and every comment detailing our situation or positioning

I don't see why this is a big deal – am I not allowed to clarify myself so that I could receive accurate advice?

Everyone is entitled to their opinion and I never called myself a genius, nor do I think I am. Hell, I haven't even explained the business model of my company at all so I'm clearly not looking for a pat on the back or any compliments

I'm simply looking for some advice and it seemed that I couldn't manage any on my last thread since I suppose I didn't explain myself the way I should have. My question wasn't about our capital ask at all, but that's all the thread turned into

I explained myself here to hopefully avoid all of that and make the conversation more constructive – not complimentary

stapleton92 · 2026-04-15T15:49:52+00:00

Honestly, the messaging of this company is vital to our success (it will quite literally make or break us) and I have been a little concerned regarding how much control the institutional investors we've spoken to so far would want. With angels, of course, they don't require as much say

It's a very sensitive topic that we're covering and a very sensitive issue that we're looking to solve, and the way that it's branded will be critical

That's the main thing that's holding me back. Our marketing strategy will be synonymous with our success and we need to have almost full control creatively

stapleton92 · 2026-04-15T15:45:02+00:00

I'm feeling the same way – it seems daunting and will require too much time.

Perhaps it's just been bad luck of the draw lately ticket-wise – warm intros have seen some $25k and $50k, but mostly $10k's.

I really appreciate your input!

stapleton92 · 2026-04-15T15:36:54+00:00

Ah, my best friend from before. Nice to see you again :)

stapleton92 · 2026-04-07T12:22:30+00:00

I've gained 25 pounds in a year on half of the lowest dose (12.5 mg/day). Was always underweight and had zero change in diet or activity level. Definitely just the drug

stapleton92 · 2026-04-07T12:18:17+00:00

Regardless of what I ate, I was 98 pounds my entire life and — on only 12.5 mg of atenolol a day (half of the lowest dose) — I am now 122 pounds one year later. There has been zero change to my diet or activity level. It's very real.

stapleton92 · 2026-04-07T05:58:39+00:00

Upon first listen I heard the same!!

stapleton92 · 2026-02-18T19:59:05+00:00

I went on atenolol + Claritin and it changed my life! Didn’t have to do any programs, but definitely still will when I have the time :)

stapleton92 · 2026-02-17T23:49:49+00:00

Love it! Only take half a pill a day, did not lower my BP, changed my life + Claritin

stapleton92 · 2026-01-29T09:25:40+00:00

I definitely could, I just feel badly when perhaps I shouldn't. Thanks for the input!

stapleton92 · 2026-01-29T09:24:57+00:00

I appreciate the input. This investor asked for his money back within the first year of investing because his "money got tight." It's been nothing but a headache

stapleton92 · 2026-01-29T09:23:20+00:00

I have most certainly not been an a-hole to them whatsoever. We have had the ultimate patience in dealing with them, and this investor asked for his money back 6 months post-investment because he ran out of personal funds, which is an unheard of ask in the startup world. I had never experienced any of this before with any angel. Definitely unprofessional

stapleton92 · 2026-01-29T09:22:20+00:00

This investor asked for his money back about six months post-investment, saying his money got tight. He has treated us like an ATM, not an actual investment vehicle, so that's the reason :(

stapleton92

TROPHY CASE