
Ask HN: I am a deaf founder who never give up. How can I network and get funded? - cod3boy
I am shy with social anxiety and I almost always fail at networking during events due to both my medical condition and fear. On the top of this in the current world, everyone has a short attention span, everyone is busy, obsessed with being quick — while anything in life worth doing takes time.<p>https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;sievehq&#x2F;Manual&#x2F;blob&#x2F;master&#x2F;manual.md
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pomatic
First question: there's deaf and deaf -- how severe is your loss and how good
is your speech? That information will help us help you.

Second - which country do you come from? Many now have some form of assistance
dog specifically aimed at deaf ("Hearing dogs" or similar). These serve a very
useful purpose in sign posting the fact that you have a disability which is
otherwise not visible. They also act as awesome icebreakers. The dogs are bred
and trained specifically to deal with situations such as crowded and noisy
rooms, and will not be the least bit anxious or feel the least bit threatened
in such a situation.

Lastly, there's various strategies for dealing with the phone side of things -
in the UK there's NGTT, an app which puts a stenographer on the call too, so
it can be subtitled in real time. You can obviously do something similar with
a co-worker if necessary.

I'm profoundly deaf. I've run my own software company for ten years, a large
chunk of which I was also remote working on a small island (off grid). I don't
think being deaf has made an iota of difference to my career, you just have to
identify the issues and route round them, as you would any other obstacle in
day to day life.

~~~
jason_slack
> I've run my own software company for ten years, a large > chunk of which I
> was also remote working on a small island > (off grid).

I'd like to know more about this. The island and how you setup your off-grid
existence.

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jason_slack
1\. I think you should stop telling people you have social anxiety. Let them
decide. For many people you meet it might not be something they notice or care
about. Perhaps they have something too.

2\. For #1 remove "I am shy with social anxiety and I almost always fail at
networking during events due to both my medical condition and fear. On the top
of this in the current world, everyone have short attention span, everyone is
busy, obsessed with being quick — while anything in life worth doing takes
time." from your GitHub.

Also, I'm not sure you should tell people you worked for $120/month or that
you rejected offers from Google and Facebook. It sort of sounds like you want
people to feel sorry for you, then bragging. At least my opinion, no offense
intended.

3\. Practice writing good e-mails. This may be the first impressions you give
people and investors.

4\. I have deaf friends. They are all successful. I can ask them why they
think they are. I think they are because they observe what's around them and
are methodical when interacting with others.

Good luck!

~~~
cod3boy
Removed the initial intro, my intention was more to showcase the startup,
progress and then how to go about next steps given my problem. Thanks for the
feedback :)

I've tried cold emails, while they work many times, a lot of times good
investors value intro over cold emails.

Would love to get in touch with your friends!

~~~
pomatic
Now the intro has changed, I'm unsure what you are asking for. If you need
funding, either bootstrap or find a co-founder who has the social capabilities
you need to raise funds. Bootstrapping is lot easier IMO, and carries less
risk.

If you are funded and want to market/sell your product, get a sales person
(part time, perhaps). Cold calling (whether by email or phone) requires a
specific set of skills and very thick skin. If that's not you, delegate.

If you have no choice but to cold-email, use Linked In so that they are
targeted and get a marketing person's advice on how to phrase those initial
contacts so you have a good hook. (NB all the above is generic business
startup advice, the same advice applies to anyone: identify the critical
weaknesses; backfill from elsewhere.

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brainomite
Fellow hard of hearing individual. I am 1 step below needing to use sign
language. I also have some social anxiety.

For me? I try to arrive early before the event starts. This ensures there are
fewer people around. For larger events and or talks, I bring my own assistive
devices to assist with hearing at a distance and a noisy environment.

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Blackstone4
Network events will probably not make or break your startup. So relax on that
front.

Focus on the product and clients. This means speaking to clients either over
email or in-person (or on the phone? not sure if there's an voice app).

It sounds like your nervous and worried about how everyone else is so busy. I
could infer that you might not value what you have to say which could come
across in conversation. People then won't listen which creates a negative
feedback loop. Try to figure out how to break that perception.

------
brianwawok
What are your skills? Can you code a MVP and get traction? You can always be
email only for quite a while with a product, so no one would even know you are
deaf.

~~~
cod3boy
Here is more, we've launched and we have traction.
[https://github.com/sievehq/Manual/blob/master/manual.md](https://github.com/sievehq/Manual/blob/master/manual.md)

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depecode
just start putting off the shyness and put on the courage to approach
others.... It all starts with one steps..

