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Cristina Imre

What's your main concern right now as a founder?

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Since all of them are mentioned in my conversations, and things fluctuate rapidly in this environment, I would like to see if any stand out. If you work with founders, you can also answer based on your recent inputs from them. Please write a comment if there is something else you would like to add. Thank you!

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Philipp Schwengel
I would phrase my major concern the "reliability of funding success based on traction." Raising at the beginning of 2022 was still relatively easy. And we were extremely confident that we could raise the next round when achieving traction milestone X. Now, it seems like strong progress doesn't guarantee follow-up investments anymore since the market environment changed that much.
Cristina Imre
@phil_schwengel Interesting. So what you're saying is that you showed traction and investors remained reluctant for other reasons?
Justin Johnson
I feel like traction will always be the biggest concern. If customers aren't coming / coming back, it's a pretty terrible feeling. But once you find out why and can solve it, no better feeling in the world.
Justin Johnson
@cristinaimre Valid! The never ending grind of an entrepreneur. Reminds me of Winston Churchill's definition of success: going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.
Cristina Imre
@justin_govy That's true, but when you get to the product market fit other issues start emerging. :)
Sneha Saigal
@cristinaimre @justin_govy So well said, Justin!
Cristina Imre
@justin_govy Right. That's why entrepreneurs are the ones who bring the world into the future.
Darwin Binesh
Traction for sure. I go live on Monday and feel some pressure. Both good and bad but it's real!!
Cristina Imre
@darwin_binesh Live on product Hunt?
Darwin Binesh
@cristinaimre it’s a soft launch, if I can figure out how to have a good launch in product hunt specifically I’ll do it in the near future!!
Cristina Imre
@darwin_binesh Check this post. @notanothervivek has some great notes there: https://www.producthunt.com/disc...
Ghost Kitty
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Cristina Imre
@siddhartha_dange Thanks for your input.
Ghost Kitty
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An
Making enough money to cover the costs. I'm running SpaceHey which is a privacy-friendly retro social network with currently over 500k users and the community is awesome - but my number one challenge right now is to make enough money to cover the rising server costs...
Cristina Imre
@anthemaker It seems like you are on a social mission and what you achieved there is fabulous. How about using the power of the community and just tell them this exactly. Be open and set up a donation page with the story. Why you did this, what was your motivation, where you are and why do you need the help.
Cristina Imre
@anthemaker @djteknokid Right? This kid knows things, and will go far.
@anthemaker Sounds really fun! I also love the tagline MySpace reborn (how bold is this)
Michal Jackowski
Defo traction, I'm still looking for validation of my product.
Cristina Imre
@mjackowski That's a tough phase indeed. Any signs about your ideal clients?
Michal Jackowski
@cristinaimre some, yes - I have a pretty good idea of who I want to go after as I have some positive signals, but until I see it in any scale it's still just a hypothesis
Sneha Saigal
@cristinaimre @mjackowski It's a challenging phase for sure, Michal. All the best. Would love to help in anyway with the subject matter experts we have. Let's connect if you'd like more details.
Cristina Imre
@mjackowski That's one of the challenges. I saw this many times. Founders, including me in the past, are very focused on a perceived type of ideal client that later one confirms as an error.
Leo Zaroff
definitely either mental health or traction
Cristina Imre
@leo_zaroff Thanks for your input!
There is saying that winning solves all the problem in sports. I feel the same way with the company I am running. Traction is going to solve the funding problem which can help solve employee related issues, and mental health with the resources.
Cristina Imre
@djteknokid More or less, but your reasoning makes sense. :)
Rich Watson
Traction & funding. Funding would definitely help our main challenge, which is progress speed.
Vali Lupoaie
In our case is funding, since without a start capital we can't launch our app.