Thanks for that 'Neil' :-) Its been my experience that raising money can feel like a cross between prostitution and social work!
What you probably realize however is that by this point you no doubt have a really really good idea of why you think your company and your plan will be successful and you can defend that belief across a wide array of threats to its success. This is really really valuable in itself.
I've talked with CEO's of companies that were funded by a single angel who could not articulate their companies value proposition beyond a few web 2.0 buzzwords. No understanding of what the risks were, how they would know if they were mitigating risk or making it worse, and no clear idea of what 'success' meant for the company.
What you probably realize however is that by this point you no doubt have a really really good idea of why you think your company and your plan will be successful and you can defend that belief across a wide array of threats to its success. This is really really valuable in itself.
I've talked with CEO's of companies that were funded by a single angel who could not articulate their companies value proposition beyond a few web 2.0 buzzwords. No understanding of what the risks were, how they would know if they were mitigating risk or making it worse, and no clear idea of what 'success' meant for the company.
A bit silver lining-ish I know but true!