We received a ray of hope when Y Combinator reached out to us, as they were looking to support more hardware companies.

When seeking investors, it's crucial to find those who deeply understand your business and can provide valuable insights.

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.

We engaged with hardware vendors like IBM and HP, trying to convince them to partner with us, despite initial resistance.

When we raised venture capital in 2003, it was one of the only deals that the firm had done at that time, highlighting the challenges of building hardware.

We raised our initial funding through a friends-and-family round, ensuring that only those who understood our vision could invest.

During the disillusionment phase, we struggled to attract investment due to recent failures of other hardware companies, which made investors hesitant.

We self-funded VMware initially, allowing only immediate family to invest, and later sought angel investors who were technically sophisticated and understood our vision.

It's essential to understand at least one market where real customers will pay for your product, and you need more funding than you initially think, especially for hardware development.