When to Quit: Founder Opportunity Cost
March 12, 2025
You have to be incredibly resilient to build a company from idea to IPO. Almost everyone who has made it will tell you there were many times when their company almost shut down.
Founders often complain that it’s unfair to ask a team at the pre-seed stage to have a tech advantage, as they’ve had no time to build. But there are some signals that the earliest stage investors are looking for:
Does your team have the skillset to build something difficult that doesn’t currently exist? Have they done that before?
Can you explain how your product will change the world over the long term, is that also a large and difficult technology problem? This vision may change over time, but having this mindset from the beginning is important.
Have you made good progress with the limited time you’ve had: do you have an impressive demo, is there a trusted 3rd party verifying your progress, do you have some early results showing how much better you might be?
