I pitched 75 investors for funding, but we faced rejection after rejection, which made me cynical about fundraising, especially during a time when no one was investing in consumer-driven businesses.

I didn't sell my story well to investors, which led to challenges in raising funds, but eventually, we built a strong case that made it hard for them to ignore us.

I faced rejection from investors at least 50 times while fundraising, and it was tough to determine if my challenges were due to being a brown woman without a higher degree or simply lacking progress.

We faced challenges in raising funds due to the 'Stranger Danger' bias, which made investors hesitant about a business model involving strangers sharing homes.

Despite initial struggles, we showed some growth, prompting an investor to suggest we raise a Series A round, which I eagerly prepared for.

Our early pitch for Figma was unfocused, but we were fortunate to have investors who believed in our potential to figure things out as we progressed.

In our first year, we faced significant challenges, including a tough go-to-market transition and hiring the wrong team for our stage of growth.

After launching our first product, we received positive feedback from investors, but I was unaware that we were about to face a long period of struggle.

We were confident about our startup, thinking we would get a lot of PR and funding, and we did receive significant media attention and raised $1.2 million in funding.