A lot has happened in the month since I last updated this blog. Some has been good and some has not. Some has been expected and some has not. But that is normal for a startup, actually normal for most any business now that I think about it. But what I’d like to focus on here is the fact that this is starting to feel a like a real company—yes, an extremely small company, but a company nonetheless. This is no longer just a couple guys working out of their basements.
We now have two full-time employees and are opening a Fargo office June 1st. That means we now have an ongoing monthly burn in terms of payroll, rent, etc. and a point down the road when we’ll run out of cash. That ratchets up the pressure to raise more money which in turn places hard deadlines on achieving certain milestones. I knew this would be the case going in but to actually now be in this situation feels quite different.
Not that I’m overly stressed about this—at least not yet. We have a comfortable cushion and our milestones are reasonable. What I don’t yet know is how investors will react to our story. I think we have a compelling one but until I actually start engaging with investors, I don’t know precisely how they’ll respond.
There is also the matter of determining what kind of investor to seek. We’ve had early, informal interest from a range of investor types—VCs, wealthy individuals, and strategics. A lot of my time in the second half of this year will be spent talking to potential investors, figuring out what type we want, and (hopefully) raising our next round.