Member-only story
Why Most Startup Fundraising Fails
Great ideas don’t die from rejection — they fade in pipelines that were broken from the start.
It starts the same way every time. And this morning, Paul was no exception.
A founder, brimming with confidence, telling me:
“We’ve built something investors must love. It’s brilliant. It’s fast. It’s efficient. A true game-changing technology.”
He paused, waiting for validation.
Instead, I played my usual role — the critical friend. I knew he wouldn’t love the twist.
So I asked the one question that usually silences the room:
“Who actually needs it right now, can write a check, and has the pressure to move fast?”
Paul froze. His smile faded. Eyes wide, mouth half-open — he didn’t need to speak. I could already hear what he wanted to say:
“How dare you question what we built — two years of sweat, in a garage, like MacGyver, armed with a pen, a whiteboard, and 4 a.m. coffee.”
They built the tech. But they never asked the hard questions every investor-savvy mind asks before breakfast:
- What problem does this solve?
- Who feels it right now?
- Will they pay — immediately?
That’s when founders often get defensive.
“You don’t get our science. You’re just a business guy.”
And they’re right. I’m not here to audit their breakthroughs or chase the next Nobel Prize.
I’m here to ask the unglamorous questions that turn passion projects into viable businesses.
And in that moment, I knew what Paul couldn’t see yet:
He was pitching into a black hole.
The Ghost Zone: Where Good Startups Go to Die
There’s a specific kind of pain most founders know — but rarely talk about.
Not rejection.
Something worse.
Ghosting.
