Weekly question poll: Hello <!channel>, just a quick simple poll this week. I know most of you here that are startup founders are ether funded or are looking to get funding. and most growth marketers are looking to help their clients get funded as well. What do you think is the most important factor that will boost the possibility of getting funded? 1️⃣Having a lot of active users for your product/service 2️⃣Having an innovative product/service 3️⃣Knowing the right people 4️⃣Having a good pitch deck 5️⃣Targeting a market that has a lot of potential 6️⃣Other (Write in thread)

👏 traction 👏 traction 👏 traction 👏 Especially in this market, traction is one of the most important things a VC will look for.

How much traction?

All those things are great but my understanding is the single most important thing investors look for is the team. A great team can refine or pivot an idea to become a high traction, perfect product market fit product.

I think revenues & traction (in this order) are the most important

Maintaining a growth of 10%~30% per month in the first years impresses VCs. But it doesn't matter much if you have a small TAM, should be a combination of both.

Why the hell 99% of conversation around startups is funding fking do something

@Serge Urakhchin - I would argue you get to a point where in order to do something or to move to that next level, you need funding. Even if you don't need funding, getting your house in order to be considered for funding often aligns with things you should be doing anyway to have a successful startup. So it's not a bad thing to have in mind

It's just all I see and it makes sense in low level groups

Fair enough!

Revenue 🙂

But the most important factor in my mind: strategic advantage. What is it that you can do that copy cats couldn’t? If you are castle, what is your defensive moat? Do you have insights you know others don't? Do you have a known brand? Traction? Connections? Exclusive contracts? Tech others can't replicate? What makes you special and why would a VC invest in you over investing in someone else to do this exact thing?

the numbers dont lie, #1 is showing to be the largest poll selection

I'd say lack of revenue is the number 1 reason startups fail, therefore having revenue must be the number 1 reason why startups succeed. Having people pay money is a validation of an idea that is unmatched imo.

Revenue. No doubt about it. If you're making money you will get funded. Or you can get a loan.

Now that I think about it, I should have added revenue as one of the choices 😅

The real answer is assurance you can provide a 10x+ return on investment

Has to be who you know. Yes, traction is important, but if you don't actually have a network with VCs, it is much harder than those who may have somewhat less traction but actually do know those VCs.

^im studying right now for the aws cloud solution architect associate exam as a full stack web developer already I'm pretty sure with this skill set I don't need to know anybody just build and deploy

To get VC funding??

To make money and be successful and bypass funding

Building and deploying doesn't get VC funding automatically, not sure the point you're making Serge

Its not an airport. You don't need to announce your departure 😄

He looks 12. Probably just trying to stir the pot a little lol. I've been a part of 3 raises, 1 acquisition, and 1 IPO. Users usually mean revenue, which is why that was my vote. If you have users, you likely either have revenue from your services, or you run ads etc and earn some from that (in the case of apps and sites).

Have ten customers that no one on your team knows. On funding the more progress you can show bootstrapped makes you more desirable to investors.

@Rick Mason exactly. being able to say "look what we achieved with pots of ramen and a payment holiday on my mortgage... imagine what we can achieve with your seed/series A funding" is a very powerful and compelling thing to be able to say