
Anatomy of an (un)fundable startup  - codelion
http://venturehacks.com/articles/unfundable-startup
======
eaurouge
_“Naval broke down the 5 main qualities of an ‘exceptional startup,’ in the
following order:

1\. Traction

2\. Team

3\. Product

4\. Social Proof

5\. Pitch/Presentation_

What do 'social proof', pitches and presentations have to do with building an
exceptional company? I can understand if these are qualities needed to raise
money in Silicon Valley, but "qualities of an exceptional startup"?

 _Instead of trying to do everything well (traction, team, product, social
proof, pitch, etc.), do one thing exceptionally. As a startup you have to be
exceptional in at least one regard._

Ok, I'll just work on getting my pitch pitch perfect then. Or maybe I'll work
on my social proofs. I could have sworn I was in Silicon Valley, but it's been
warm lately, maybe this is Hollywood after all.

~~~
jfoutz
You're undervaluing a pitch, and you have no idea what a perfect pitch is.

You can be incredibly slick, with a Lessig level of timing matching your
slides to your words, but that's not a perfect pitch. A perfect pitch is what
gets you funded. you need to cut through all the VC's defenses surprise and
delight them in a way that makes them want to give you money.

Maybe you do know this, but it's worth pointing out the perfect pitch isn't
some generic bullshit that plays well on youtube, it's tailored precisely to
one guy. your guy. your funder.

~~~
eaurouge
You have no idea what I know or don't know. In any case, getting funded isn't
some sort of proof that you've built an exceptional business, it doesn't even
prove you've built a business. In other words, you don't automatically have an
"exceptional startup" because you got funded.

------
redguava
I think it's really important not to forget that this is for getting funding,
not necessarily for having a successful startup/business. There is a really
big difference there and often this type of advice ends up getting repeated
but without the appropriate context.

"Instead of trying to do everything well (traction, team, product, social
proof, pitch, etc.), do one thing exceptionally. As a startup you have to be
exceptional in at least one regard."

That might be great advice to get funded, but it would be terrible advice to
try and create a profitable business. To get a profitable business you really
need to a do a lot of things well, not necessarily exceptionally.

------
countessa
Instead of chasing funding, you could focus on building a business from day 1
and look at funding as a nice-to-have. It worries me that so many startups
seem _so_ focused on funding, rather than creating a product and business. You
only have 2 eyes...if one is focused on funding, you only have 1 with which to
create your company. Worse yet, both eyes focused on funding to the exclusion
of a sound business.

~~~
flyinRyan
This post sounds like it comes from a dreamworld. People have lives that have
to be paid for while they're trying to build this business. You can build up
nest eggs and so on but most of us could never save back enough to go from
concept to profitability. Unless you can build the company while living with
your (very understanding!) parents, you will pretty much have to get funding.

~~~
timjahn
"Getting funding" does not have to be traditional venture capital funding.
There are other creative ways that many bootstrapped entrepreneurs have used
over the years.

------
dchuk
1\. Traction 2\. Team 3\. Product 4\. Social Proof 5\. Pitch/Presentation

Unless #1 (traction) implies some sort of revenue, this list is absolutely
bullshit. Sure, if the goal is to enter the ponzi-scheme-esque world of VC
rounds then I suppose it's acceptable to avoid actual profitability in the
effort to grow the userbase.

But if you actually plan to run a big boy business, it's probably a good idea
to put revenue above all other items in the list.

------
npguy
pmarca answered this question years back. the only thing that matters is the
product-market fit. it doesnt matter if you have a team of non-social robots
with no pitch.

[http://pmarca-archive.posterous.com/the-pmarca-guide-to-
star...](http://pmarca-archive.posterous.com/the-pmarca-guide-to-startups-
part-4-the-only)

