
Ask HN: Is it smart to fundraise on the heels of major press coverage? - gnicholas
My startup was recently featured in The Atlantic, and we&#x27;ll be on NPR next week. This is the first major press we&#x27;ve gotten since launch, and it&#x27;s driving lots of new end users and corporate partners.<p>We have been considering raising a round and would do so if it wouldn&#x27;t be too large of a time-sink. From reading others&#x27; fundraising stories, it seems like the hardest thing is getting the first commitment and turning investors&#x27; mindsets from wait-and-see to FOMO. Is major press coverage an effective catalyst in this regard?<p>I realize the answer is likely different at different stages—obviously no one ever started a B round because a newspaper wrote about them. We have seed funding from Intel Capital and would be looking to raise around $500k.
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twunde
Fundraising is almost always a timesink so you'll need to decide whether it's
worth the time and effort versus spending that time on customer acquisition
and corporate partnerships. Good press and corporate partnerships will
certainly help in raising a new round if you choose to do so. There should be
greater investor interest, and if the good press continues while you're
raising the round it may help in closing the round. VCs and other investors
like to be validated and good press will make it easier to sell partners on
the investment.

As an aside, a potential corporate partner could be Benchmark Education. They
focus on literacy K-5th grade.

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gnicholas
Thanks for the advice. I know that fundraising will take time, which is part
of the reason we've not done it yet. The worst outcome is that we spend a
month or two working on fundraising but don't end up getting terms we like and
having to decide between lousy terms or deferring the round.

The hope here is that the press will help overcome some of the psychological
challenges and make it an efficient time to raise. You're right that the
partnerships and new customer acquisition that follows from press coverage
will also be good for investor conversations. Thanks also for the reference to
Benchmark Education—hadn't heard of them but will definitely reach out!

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samfisher83
what is your startup

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gnicholas
BeeLine Reader—we've developed a technology that makes reading on-screen
easier and faster.
[http://www.BeeLineReader.com](http://www.BeeLineReader.com). The Atlantic
article, in case it matters, is
[http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2016/05/a-bett...](http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2016/05/a-better-
way-to-read/482127/). Thanks for asking!

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liamcardenas
Wow this is awesome! Keeping track of the line I am on is very difficult for
me (moreso than for other people). Reading the example text on your website
was a breeze.

Keep it up!!

