Stop Obsessing Over Fundraising Announcements

1. DCDalton Caldwell0:00

   [gentle music] This is Dalton + Michael. Today we're gonna talk about is startup funding fair?

2. MSMichael Seibel0:08

   [laughs]

3. DCDalton Caldwell0:09

   So I'll set this up. Instead of working on your company, you're browsing Twitter, 'cause that's what all good founders do, and you see company bullshit has just raised a $10 million round from A, C, T, and Z. And you checked out their product last week, and you're like, "Th- that product sucks." And you see all these people being like, "Oh my God, this company's so great. They're gonna win the space." And you are starting to think, "Is this all a joke? I was told this was meritocratic, and da, da, da, da, da, but, like, these folks suck, and they're raising all the money, and they look like they're cool." What's going on? [laughs]

4. MSMichael Seibel0:44

   Yeah, I mean, look, think about how many office hours that we do-

5. DCDalton Caldwell0:49

   Yes

6. MSMichael Seibel0:49

   ... where, you know, there's some other topic, but when you get right down to it-

7. DCDalton Caldwell0:52

   [laughs]

8. MSMichael Seibel0:52

   ... what's actually going on is that someone read a fundraising announcement, and somehow that caused them to go through a, like a total spiral.

9. DCDalton Caldwell1:03

   Yes.

10. MSMichael Seibel1:03

    Like, the founders I'm talking to are spiraling.

11. DCDalton Caldwell1:05

    Yes.

12. MSMichael Seibel1:06

    Sometimes it's because they're sad-

13. DCDalton Caldwell1:09

    Yes

14. MSMichael Seibel1:09

    ... because, um, it's-

15. DCDalton Caldwell1:11

    They're competitive

16. MSMichael Seibel1:11

    ... a competitor.

17. DCDalton Caldwell1:12

    Yes.

18. MSMichael Seibel1:12

    Sometimes it's they're enraged-

19. DCDalton Caldwell1:15

    Yeah

20. MSMichael Seibel1:15

    ... because how dare-

21. DCDalton Caldwell1:16

    Yes

22. MSMichael Seibel1:16

    ... this dumb thing that's so bad-

23. DCDalton Caldwell1:19

    Yes

24. MSMichael Seibel1:19

    ... that we're better than them raise money.

25. DCDalton Caldwell1:21

    Yes.

26. MSMichael Seibel1:21

    Time for revolution.

27. DCDalton Caldwell1:23

    [laughs] Yeah. Time for a revolution. [laughs]

28. MSMichael Seibel1:25

    We ne- we need to destroy the venture capital industry.

29. DCDalton Caldwell1:28

    Yeah. [laughs]

30. MSMichael Seibel1:28

    I'm so mad.

Episode duration: 16:01