This is the part I don't understand and am going through now. You raise a ton and get good at spending or you raise minimum and constantly bridge every time growth doesn't match plan, buying time to catch up or tweak.
Why don't investors offer terms that have steps with growth KPIs (ones you can't spend your way to) that give you more money automatically if you make the metrics? As a company you don't have to constantly raise or bridge but you also can't go drop 5M on new offices. You have all the money and runaway you need as long as you hit the milestones. The investors still have all the same upside but less exposure.
I must be missing something I guess. It would solve issue we have at the startup I'm at now though.
Indeed a class of investors does exactly this - they provide unlimited but conditional money, set strict KPIs, embed their own people to steer the efforts in the desired direction, and generally take a hands-on role until they exit in 3-5 years. This investor class is "Private Equity" guys and girls, and they are 10-50 times larger than most VCs we talk about (on headcount, funds raised, investment sizes, reach etc).
I think it might be a matter of scale: VCs are tiny and they don't have the resources to take such an active role. Even the crazy successful legends like Accel/Sequoia/Benchmark/A16Z/USV/etc employ fewer people than an average company they invest into ~every month.
Why don't investors offer terms that have steps with growth KPIs (ones you can't spend your way to) that give you more money automatically if you make the metrics? As a company you don't have to constantly raise or bridge but you also can't go drop 5M on new offices. You have all the money and runaway you need as long as you hit the milestones. The investors still have all the same upside but less exposure.
I must be missing something I guess. It would solve issue we have at the startup I'm at now though.