The mistake I see most startup founders make is trying to get funding by VCs.
This guy got kicked out of his own company by his cofounder with the help of VCs.
And that’s not a random screenshot I pulled out from a random account on Twitter (or X). It's posted by Peter Levels. Check it out below.
https://x.com/levelsio/status/1765812741040652706?s=46
And that's JUST one of the many crazy stories out there.
Believe it or not, there's a founder who currently got kicked out his own startup after 3+ years and 40+ hires.
There's EVEN a guy who:-
Pretty funny, right?
Why aren't these stories mainstream then?"
I don't know what your experience with VCs are, but most of them make you sign NDAs. Which means you can't talk anything about them, and which also means you can't say the truth of what happened.
Smart chess move by the VCs.
Also, it's the fear of startup founders to end their startup career so early after bad-mouthing VCs.
Now the real question is where can you actually raise money with as little as risk of all these bad things happening?
The answer is grants.
You don't have to:
● Give up equity
● Answer to investors
● Spend hours on pitch-decks and negotiations
Where can you find these grants?
Google.
Just go out there, and apply.
What if I don't have a shot at them?
You literally have NOTHING to lose applying to some of them. Just googling "grant success stories" will give you the motivation you need.
Who knows? WHAT IF - you get approved for $12,000 next month in free capital without giving up your equity or any risk of getting kicked out from your startup.
Isn't it a chance worth to take?
P.S. If you want to have a better and FREE solution, just have a list containing grants up to $750M in the next 5 minutes, sort through the ones YOU need with effortless filtering and apply... we just launched on Product Hunt. Your support would mean the world to us. :)
This is a super interesting funding method. I've always been a fan of bootstrapping for the reasons you mentioned.
I'll checkout the grant list - just signed up!
That is.... pretty wild
Wow thanks for sharing these are crazy
And I love the grants thing, that's the first time I hear about it
The link on Product Hunt doesn't load.
Is it tailored to only US startups?
Nah, sorry the Product hunt listed an incorrect link
here is the link: https://app.misterrpink.com/
Your tool could provide invaluable support to founders
I agree, there is a much bigger vision.
I really hope the community can help more founder see that there are many alternative sources to raising cap
Awesome Idea bro! Love it!!
Thank you!