Two reasons why 99% of seed stage companies don’t make it to Series A: 1. They don’t build something people want. 2. Co-Founder breakup. Avoid these two and you are the 1%. #Founder #funding #business #investing #vc #venturecapital #entrepreneur #startup
Isn’t the biggest money in building something people didn’t know they needed. Like the iPhone. Or Netflix. Neither solved a problem or filled a need, the opposite.
👉 80% of Seed startups don't mature to Series A, failure rate is very high. Disagree on 1. though, since many of them still build something 'people' want (2,5-3x growth YoY), but not something 'hype tourist VCs' want (11x YoY, 97% churn).
brutal Truth. But the first point has so many shades of gray. Some teams want to build something people want… but can’t quite get there. Others do build something people want, but with no real moat. And then there are those who don’t build something people want — but are so good at distribution they still make it to round E, effectively creating a need.
Carta says 20% make it to Series A, not 1%. Insight is on point: at seed, product and partnership are the same bet. When one fails, the other follows.
Many ideas fail because they focus on what people *want* today instead of what they’ll *need* tomorrow. Wants shift like the wind; needs endure.
3. They don't know how to sell
Align with market need before co-founder alignment. Key to Series A.
Harry Stebbings, the seed needs to be watered by both traction and trust...
Founder building AI-powered multilingual devices for tourism and conferences
3dIf they don't build something people need, they shouldn't pass the pre-seed stage.