Michael Sibel - Founder of Twitch, ex-CEO of YCombinator
When meeting the founders for the first time, I often hear "We are a series A company" YC alumni sometimes report that their business angels constantly ask them the question "When are you going to start Serie A?"
I would like to emphasize that fundraising is not the same as success. Quite the opposite - raising the round should be a side effect of success. Using fundraising as such as a yardstick for success and as a benchmark is dangerous for the entire community - it encourages a culture that adjusts to short-term performance instead of doing something that people really want and that will have long-term value.
I believe that founders, investors and tech publishers need to fundamentally change the way they think about investment attraction. By downplaying the investment rounds, we would have a great opportunity to celebrate those companies that are at the forefront of value and value creation, focus on meeting real needs, while building sustainable businesses with good margins.
Optimizing a company's business processes to drive new rounds is as counterproductive as focusing on headcounts, press mentions, invitations to conferences, trendy offices, public speaking, or record revenue growth with a significant negative unit economy.
Fundraising is not a key part of a company's life. It's just cash. Sometimes they go to great companies, sometimes they go to bad ones. Sometimes investors put their money in for the right reasons, and sometimes only so that they can get it back. The best startup founders focus on consistently developing their product, staying lean, communicating with their customers, and finding their product-market fit.
Translation: Lyova Pyzhov
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