The paradox of the round as a goal
"If your goal is the round, you've already lost."
This phrase, often repeated by serious entrepreneurs, encapsulates an uncomfortable truth for many startups. Yet, how often do we see founders celebrating the closing of a round as if it were the final milestone? As if that million euros or Series A were the definitive proof of their success?
The problem is that fundraising isn't a goal. It's an accelerator for something that already works, not a lifeline for something you haven't validated yet.
The illusion of a clear vision
Every founder is always "sure" they have a clear vision. Always. Even when that vision is as foggy as the Po Valley in January.
It's the most dangerous bias in entrepreneurship: the belief that your idea is brilliant simply because you had it. But the market doesn't have time for your personal convictions. The market responds only to one thing: the real value you're creating for it.
The Dropbox lesson: when 3 minutes are worth more than 6 months of development
Drew Houston, founder of Dropbox, understood this perfectly. Instead of spending months developing the product, he created a simple 3-minute video showing exactly what he wanted to build.
Result? 75,000 people signed up for the waiting list for a product that technically didn't even exist yet.
That wasn't vanity marketing or a skewed metric. It was pure traction validation.
Houston didn't have a prototype, but he had something much more valuable: proof that 75,000 people had such an urgent problem that they were willing to wait for a solution that wasn't even available yet.
Traction vs. vanity metrics: how not to lie to yourself
But beware: not all metrics are equal. There's a vast difference between:
- - 75,000 sign-ups to a waiting list after watching a video (demand validation);
- - 10,000 app downloads that no one uses after the first day (vanity metric or skewed).
The first tells you that you've identified a real problem. The second only tells you that your marketing works, but your product probably doesn't.
The real skill of a founder (or aspiring one) isn't knowing how to make the perfect pitch. It's knowing how to identify which metric truly matters for your business and, most importantly, being brutally honest when that metric tells you you're heading in the wrong direction.
When capital is really needed (and when it's not)
Of course, not all businesses are the same. If you're building an app, you start, develop, and validate before raising funds. But if you're working on hardware, biotech, or sectors that require intensive R&D, you often need capital just to get to the first working prototype.
The question you should always ask yourself is the same: am I seeking money because I have a clear strategy on how to use it to accelerate something that's already working, or am I seeking it because I hope it will help me figure out what to build?
The first is strategy. The second is hope.
The right focus: from capital-first to customer-first
When the focus is on capital, you risk forgetting the customer. You spend time perfecting slides instead of talking to users. You optimize for investors instead of the market.
But when the focus is on mission, strategy, and creating real value, capital comes as a natural consequence. Because smart investors don't put money into a pitch. They invest in:
- - Metrics that show real growth;
- - Concrete user feedback;
- - A team that knows how to execute.
The market never lies
The market is the only impartial judge you have. It won't compliment you for being kind. It won't invest in you because it likes you. It won't use your product to do you a favor.
The market responds only to value. And if the market doesn't respond, the problem isn't in the pitch deck. The problem is in what you've built.
Conclusion: build first, then raise
The next time you hear about a startup that just closed a million-dollar round, don't ask yourself how much they raised. Ask yourself: what have they validated? What traction have they demonstrated? What problem are they really solving?
Because in the end, the only question that matters is this: are you building something the market really wants?
If the answer is yes, capital will come. If the answer is no, all the fundraising in the world won't save you.
And you? Are you building for the market or for the next round?
The difference is bigger than you think.