

Ask HN: Investor wants to invest but doesn't want to lead a round. What now? - cinquemb

Long story short:
Running a project/start up with a friend for about a year, we looked for funding right away while we were building a mvp (not sure if that was a good idea, but w/e) but then cooled off and focused more on product stuff. Because of that we haven't really been focusing on raising about 6 months.<p>We could probably keep going on like this indefinitely with out raising and keep trying to grow.<p>Should we suck it up and start looking for more people to join in a possible round? Or just keep focusing on what we're doing now?<p>Were in nyc, and we're still trying to figure out how to work the area so trying to go back and do what didn't work last time doesn't seem that appealing (even though we have one person who wants to fund us in a round with others).
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relaunched
Is it a professional investor? Have they led before? Do they actively invest?

If the answer is yes to at least any one or more of the questions, move on,
they aren't seriously going to invest. When you unpack the statement, they are
really saying, "We aren't willing to put our money where our mouth is." Then,
they add something like, "If you find a lead, come back to us." What they are
really saying is, "If someone who is better at this than we are, more famous /
notable than we are or can put together a syndicate of people we are
interested in getting to know, then we MIGHT invest."

Your best bet is to get back to work and / or find serious investors.

Good luck!

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cinquemb
Thanks for your insight!

No to all three. He contacted us out of the blue a while back and we've just
kept in contact. He did assume that we had other people in a round (but we
haven't really been talking to anyone for a long time haha).

Yeah when he told us, I immediately thought : "Oh thats nice, nothing has
changed". We're going to keep in touch so thats that i guess.

Thanks!

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gatsby
I think this happens more often than most people think. Brad Feld gives some
good advice on how to handle these situations:
[http://www.askthevc.com/wp/archives/2008/06/ive-got-
angels-w...](http://www.askthevc.com/wp/archives/2008/06/ive-got-angels-who-
want-to-invest-but-not-lead-now-what.html)

Best of luck and let us know how it turns out!

~~~
cinquemb
Awesome! This helps a lot, Thanks!

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andrewhillman
This is pretty common. Leading the round can be a pain. It's a lot of work for
the investor because they need to get the other investors onboard to syndicate
the deal. I've heard this first hand and its annoying as well as confusing.
Good luck, keep going.

