Raising our first half a million dollars was more challenging than raising our first $200 million, as investors were skeptical about mobile voice technology at the time.

Despite the initial excitement around our technology, major handset manufacturers were reluctant to integrate it due to cost concerns, which hindered our progress.

After raising our seed round, we went on to raise about $20 million more in venture capital, taking our device through prototype stages and clinical studies, ultimately achieving FDA clearance.

Achieving a million dollars in crowdfunding was crucial for us to break into Silicon Valley and prove our success to investors.

We raised our Series A on a prototype, which was challenging because many investors doubted our potential to become a public company.

A hard tech company requires significant time and money to build its first product, and even with ample resources, it's uncertain if the product can be built at all.

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.

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.

Despite early growth, we faced challenges in fundraising, pitching to 150 investors, with most rejecting us due to the perceived unsexiness of our content-focused approach.