It’s been a constant discussion between me and my partner whether we should look for funding have a beta version first for a pitch. At times we decided that we need but didn’t really do anything about it. Maybe we didn’t know what to do. Emailing random investors doesn’t work. It is pointless, I’ve tried it. At other times, we decided that I need to make version 1.0 first, befoe we ask anyone for $1.
So I am sure that everybody in the startup universe had those thoughts, “Should I get money, what should I do, do I really need them? Maybe I can work for a little bit and use that money…But where am I going to find it…I will read online and see if I can get some insights from news.yc….” in the end, nothing done. You go and read forever blogs and opinions and they are all the same. And they don’t help. How your project’s problem will get solved will probably have nothing to do with any of those advices, they are often too generic.
I settled on the solution – I will do v1.0, because I can make it by the end of the summer and then we’ll go and search for money. Nice plan. Worked hard for a month, made 1/2 of what I had planned. Now however, I had emergency and I had to fly home. That means money spent and now I can’t pay my school. What does it mean in regards to our project? Halt. I have to make money to survive. I hate that feeling. So little money – 6 grand per semester. Last 2 semesters, I am so close to completing this project and I have to deal with this crap. 12 thousand dollars not much but enough to make your life miserable, when everything was going well.
I am currently in Bulgaria, working on it coding when I have time. But once I get back, I have to work for school. I have always believed that I can fool investors and get some money to work on a project that would be fun. Maybe not ‘fool’ but rather convince them that my idea is good (I obviously like it myself). Somewhat I feel that funding was the end goal. This has changed. It’s about me and the project now. If I get money I get to work on it, else I have to stop. That simple but profoundly different from what ‘funding’ has been previously.