Many founders mistakenly believe their fundraising experience will mirror that of others based on anecdotal evidence, leading to unrealistic expectations about their own fundraising efforts.

Investors treating startup investments like stock investments led to unrealistic expectations, as they applied public market valuation metrics to early-stage companies, which have much higher failure rates.

Founders often psych themselves out by worrying about competitors, especially when they see a competitor raise significant funding, leading them to feel like they are failing.

Founders often inflated their expectations, with some expecting seed rounds of ten million dollars, reflecting a trend of trying to keep up with other startups' valuations.

I made mistakes in the fundraising process, including not meeting enough investors and assuming a deal was done before it actually was.

Many founders mistakenly believe that fundraising is about more than just raising money to build a successful company, which can lead to misalignment with investor expectations.

One of the biggest mistakes I made was relying too much on venture capitalists' advice instead of trusting my own vision.

I had no choice but to bootstrap my company for the first year. I focused on optimizing for a fast and efficient fundraising process because I was warned that a long fundraising process could kill a company.

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.