👀 Bootstrap or VC — pick your pace, pick your audience
You’re not “not ready.” You’re deciding who sees it first and how much risk you can handle.
Hey friend 👋
The other week, a founder told me:
“I want something real to show. If people sign up and I can’t deliver, that’s worse. I want proof. Traction. Something I can pitch to VCs.”
I’ve said the same before. But here’s the catch: when you chase proof before people, you’ve already picked your game. You’re optimizing for investors, not users.
And most of us don’t realize we’re trying to play two incompatible games at once.
Game 1: Build to Raise (VC-first)
Goal → prove it’s venture-scale.
Strategy → polish the demo, engineer “wow” spikes, show CAC/LTV slides.
Reality → you pitch, they pick. Optics matter more than customers do. In this game, polish matters, proof matters. Even smoke and mirrors count if you can back it up.
Game 2: Build to Serve (Bootstrap-first)
Goal → solve real pain, stay alive.
Strategy → ship early, ship often, let users shape it, let your story be the moat
Reality → you serve, they join. Showing up early isn’t risky, it’s survival.
But here’s the nuance: you can do it privately. Early validation doesn’t have to mean a public launch. You can iterate, fail fast, and learn with actual users without a megaphone.
Where founders get stuck:
Saying they’re bootstrapping but waiting for the “perfect launch”
Saying they’re building community but optimizing for VC optics
Obsessing over polish but never testing for pull
Result → two playbooks, one brain, zero traction.
But I get it.
Here’s the real truth: most founders aren’t “not ready.” They’re scared of being seen — publicly.
🤔 So which game should you play?
Either works. But not both at once.
If you’re bootstrapping → ship now, learn fast, and decide whether you show it publicly or privately. Fear not learning more than being seen.
If you’re raising VC → polish the story, engineer the spikes, own the leverage play. Stealth mode is your friend if your vision is audacious.
You can always switch once you’ve earned it.
Some founders start scrappy, then raise when the engine’s humming. That’s the classic “bootstrap to VC” path: build something people actually want, get early traction, and then pour fuel on it. Think Basecamp saying no forever, or ConvertKit saying yes later.
Notion stumbled into that arc: they raised too early, flopped, and had to reset in bootstrap mode before taking VC again.
Figma went the other way: VC-first, long R&D, spent years in stealth, iterated, then exploded.
Different paths, same lesson: clarity beats optics. What doesn’t work is trying to optimize for both audiences (users + VCs) at the same time.
👉 The real play: pick your game now, pick your pace, pick your audience. Play it clean.
🪑 This is Front Row — my raw notes from building Screate.
Right now I’m shipping Sidekick Log, your AI butler for chat inbox to kill chat chaos and protect founder focus. Early access closes Sept 12 → sidekicklog.com
PS: If you want visibility + community while you build, I’m also running a global Founder Circle. 14 serious, bold founders (VN, SG, US, Laos, Denmark, India/Canada, France…) have joined already. Apply here → https://bit.ly/Startup-Spotlights
Until next time,
Hien & Front Row team