Thread by @jelenajansson

An investor unfollowed me, after I openly talked about fundraising experiences, how painful it is & how some investors we met treated us poorly (which I think stems from classism). Te investor seemed like a fit in the beginning, but the aftermath of unrealised deal showed truth.

We didn’t want to raise a massive pre-seed. We were clear on that. We wanted to do a small small round to add to our own money, to launch. They dangled a check over our head for few months keeping our hopes up.

In the beginning we aimed to do a bigger round because we didn’t know better. We got some interest, some horrible experiences as well, so generally we found that we are by heart meant to be more lo-fi bootstrapped. This investor seemed on board.

The deal fell through because we didn’t want to do one more round of fundraising on our own cashflow. He wasn’t ready to sign a check after 2 months of talks. A 25-50k check. Brought on a friend as well who we didn’t think was a good fit.

Breaking point is when I asked - will they still invest if we don’t manage to raise in this new “round” (given bad investment stats for female run startups) - dude just sat their quiet. So we were to be in this alone since we would burn our runway to confirm if we were “worthy”.

I was heartbroken & upset as I really thought that first investor to be genuine & a great fit. Over time he showed he wasn’t. Wasted so much time of ours. Then, he also unfollowed me a month or so later, I believe due to me being vocal about our fundraising experiences.

I think it’s important to see who will be your “ride or die” type of investor, especially when building a #TechForGood company, that looks at longevity & purpose above returns. And to be clear, we are not talking here about investors with no budget, these are millionaires.

Today, I am happy we didn’t follow their lead. I think about how he must have felt called out when I tweeted about my experiences & I am ok with that. He cost us money & energy we could have utilised into other spaces.

Meeting investors & fundraising is a costly process.

This story is from a year ago, but I still carry it as a reminder of why we need to value ourselves more. I should have stopped talks session 2-3 when there was no check, and not continue this charade. He was just not that into it to go alone at it on the spot but we were eager.

I am certain there are some great investors out there, & I am certain the more vetted you are the nicer people become to you or treat you with more validity (which is 🤮).

We won’t sell ourselves short anymore & I won’t silence myself to make sure others like me.

I am sharing this experience to help you assess all the ways to go & that investor route doesn’t come for free and is not the only way forward.

Respect yourself, know your worth, stand behind what you are building and build your own lane.