20 years....that's one way of saying it. You could also see it differently....about two weeks of work. We're finalizing our round at Receeve. It's been quick outside of the admin and we were able to raise more than we need. Therefore we asked some folks to wait for a further financing round. I don't want to jinx anything but I remain confident that we will have together a pre-seed round which sufficiently funds us to the next round and allows us to get a team, a product and initial POC's in place.
But this isn't a post about fundraising and instead, about expectation management. Why could it be written that it took us twenty years versus two weeks? Well, it's simple enough. Michael and I have been in business for a long time. We have put in the hard work of learning the ropes, showing track record and building our networks (as well as saving money to be able to invest a large chunk of the round ourselves). It still took each of us over twenty years to get where we are. If you don't know the backstory, you could be misled to think that it's possible to raise a financing round in two weeks.
You will see this all the time when reading the news and blogs or listening to podcasts. Tim only works a four-hour workweek. The Basecamp guys hardly ever work, their product builds itself and really, they don't even have offices or employees at that. On the other hand, Gary V. is working all the time, 24/7.....hustle, hustle. Jack, of Twitter fame, hardly sleeps and eats one meal a day....sometimes. The Rock......work, business, social media, movies, workouts....maybe soon even a presidential campaign......day in/day out. All of it......it just leads to silly expectations.
This is nothing new but maybe a good reminder. You write your own story.....as it evolves.....and you will hardly ever know exactly how things turn out. In hindsight, you can tell whatever story you want. You can make it seem easy or you can make it seem hard. It's a matter of perspective. But when you are setting out on your path or are already on the way and aren't satisfied, revisit your expectations.
Case in point: we may be about to finalize a round of funding but I am looking at least 7 to 10 years out into the future, preparing for the hard work. Raising the round is usually the easiest part (even when it's hard). Everything that comes thereafter is where the real work begins. Seed, Series A, Series B.....it only gets harder as expectations grow. In our case, we are in no way thinking much about exits right now or potential acquirers. The day-to-day is salaries, rent, biz dev, partnering, etc. My expectations are aspirational but realistic. We are excited about getting a great pre-seed round together with angels and investors whom we really like. But there is so much to do. I do not foresee any 4-hour workweeks soon and this is fine. Nothing about where we are going is attached to expectations of a similar path. Nor should be yours.