You gotta kiss a lot of frogs before you find a check.
“As a founder, I love the idea of building my brand slowly and intentionally. But when raising capital, there's often pressure to show quick growth. How do I navigate that tension without compromising my brand's integrity or long-term vision?”
Actual question posed by a young founder named Talia in the chat of a recent webinar I attended.
A question I hear all the time. I get it.
There’s no such thing as a free launch. The pressure to scale is crushing. Vendors need to be paid. Product development costs bigly. Retailers expect brands to cough up co-op dollars. Marketing budgets don't fund themselves. And for bootstrappers, expansion strategies, supply chain & distribution costs before you raise your first dollar only raise the anxiety.
You need cash. & that would be yesterday.
But here's the part nobody likes to hear: You gotta kiss a lot of frogs before you find a check.
Look, I'm not a VC. Don't play one on TV. But I've sat across the table from some of the best in the biz.
I've been in meetings when it's all financials all the time. Projections are questioned. TAM is dissected. Business models are picked apart like a Thanksgiving turkey.
I've also attended meetings—like one last week with @SciencePower (full disclosure–a brand I’m deeply involved with) —where we ran well over the allotted time because the potential investors were totally intrigued by the brand's WHY and the uniqueness of the opportunity.
Fact is, there are different types of investors. Understanding which one that best fits your goals is the whole enchilada.
Purely financial investors will scrutinize your spreadsheet. Have exit pressures breathing down their necks. Answer to LP expectations. Does this look like other companies that made money? Can this venture scale before our fund expires?
Sometimes the time horizons are artificial. But becoming a category winner doesn't happen on their timetable. But on yours.
Strategic investors look at your story. Think bigger picture. Besides cash, they offer industry expertise, resources & relationships, operational muscle, customer networks & supply chain know-how that can truly transform your trajectory.
Several months ago, at @VentureCrush, @Katie Stanton, Founder & General Partner at @Moxxie Ventures, shared this: "Make your VCs work for you. If they can't give you capital—maybe they can give you time & intros. Leverage your community."
Love that. Because not all value comes in the form of a wire transfer.
Mission critical: Find investors who align with your values—who love your WHY. Truly get your mission. Believe that what you're building matters beyond the exit multiple.
That said, neither of these options matter if you haven't built something worth investing in.
Your brand.
Your brand is your most valuable asset. Full stop.
Category-defining companies—The Apples, The Googles, The Nikes—built their
brands over time, with intention. They didn't compromise their vision chasing checks. They built something so irresistible, so irreplaceable, checks chased them. That's power.
When you grow fast instead of growing right, your brand can become a one act play vs. a full production. Revenue looks impressive until competition shows up, the economy sneezes. Your audience is on to the next. Then what? It’s back to the fundraising hamster wheel & you’re the hamster!
I've watched brilliant founders pressured to launch new products without knowing if the demand is there. Then they get stuck with inventory that collects dust in warehouses.
I’ve seen unique brand voices become vanilla because investors wanted "broader appeal."
So, Talia, here's my best advice:
Don't look for money. Look for conviction. Find an investor who will champion your business like a co-founder. A true partner who's in the trenches with you.
Don't lose patience. Brand building takes time. Thought. Sweat. Blood. Tears. The best brands are in it for the long haul. You might seek Patient Capital—investors who measure success in years, not quarters.
For instance not long ago, Sequoia Capital wrote: Our experience with category-defining companies has taught us that they take more than a few years to build… “The Sequoia Capital Fund will provide a continuous feedback loop. “Investments will no longer have expiration dates. Our sole focus will be to grow value for our companies and limited partners over the long run.”
Remember: A smaller check from someone who gets it might make more dollars & sense that a mega-round from someone who'll make you miserable for the next 5 years.
Before you take money, ask:
Do they understand what you're building?
Have they backed brands that kept their integrity through hypergrowth?
What happens when growth is slower than the deck promised?
Talk to their other portfolio companies. Including the ones that struggled. How’d it go?
Hard as it sounds, if anything feels off, it is. Walk away. Brands that endure grew right. Stayed true. Didn’t sell their soul for a Series A.
Bad capital will destroy what you've built faster than no capital ever could.
Above all, build something people can't live without. Make your audience fall in love. Not just like. Build a brand that stands for something. Means something. Changes something. Build a foundation strong enough to handle what comes next.
Then find the right capital to accelerate what's already working.
In that order. Always.
Hope that helps, Talia.