
Ask HN: Funding situation – help and inputs please - Suzannet
Product and competition:<p>Me and my cofounder have been working on a SaaS product since last year.
Then a lightning struck - we pivoted big time. And put our heads down to work.
Now we are way ahead (5-10x) than competitors who are funded ($9+ million).<p>Our funding situation:<p>We are in stealth with no funding (not much runway). 
If we release our product - competitor will know what they lack 
and they can put more resources to catchup.
We lack ammunition (team and funding) to compete with them.<p>Question:<p>What would be a good path to bring product to market ?<p>Should we approach friends-and-family or 2nd&#x2F;3rd level contacts or traditional investors ?
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mchannon
Find a customer, any customer. If you're light years ahead of the competition,
they'll say so.

If you built something you can't sell, then it's not worth anything to the
market.

Don't worry about your superior competition getting the jump on your
technology. They'll do fine without and they know it (and it's your uphill
battle to prove them wrong). They're superior because they sell more than you
do, and that part of the operation is an essential part it appears you have
overlooked.

If you thought selling was hard, try raising money.

Definitely shake down your friends and family if they've got money to
speculate with, as they tend to offer ridiculously friendly terms. Traditional
investors will leverage your limited runway against you, so don't waste your
time with them until your circumstances require you devote your full time to
hitting them up.

The thing that impresses investors most is knowing you don't need their money.
The way to get there? Sell your product and get your customers to love you.

~~~
rajacombinator
Yep forget about all that stealth nonsense. No customers, no business.

