Unpopular opinion but facts:
If your entire funding history is startup grants, you don't have a company. You have a very expensive hobby.
These programs give two people just enough $ to eat instant noodles and fly to conferences. Meanwhile the whole industry already knows your face after 2-3 events.
You get ONE real shot per program. Once a year. Fuck it up? Wait till next year.
Name one company that grew past Series A on grants alone. I'll wait.
Grants are a starting line, not a business model. If you're not converting that early capital into real traction, real users, real revenue, you're just burning time.
The market doesn't care about your pitch deck. It cares about what you shipped.
If your entire funding history is startup grants, you don't have a company. You have a very expensive hobby.
These programs give two people just enough $ to eat instant noodles and fly to conferences. Meanwhile the whole industry already knows your face after 2-3 events.
You get ONE real shot per program. Once a year. Fuck it up? Wait till next year.
Name one company that grew past Series A on grants alone. I'll wait.
Grants are a starting line, not a business model. If you're not converting that early capital into real traction, real users, real revenue, you're just burning time.
The market doesn't care about your pitch deck. It cares about what you shipped.