Venture Capital funds popping up like mushrooms after the rain had shifted the goalposts for getting an investment.

On one hand, it’s easy to understand people who are responsible for investing someone else’s money when they want to take as little risks as possible.

On the other hand, their demand to show a live product with traction (read: users, preferably of the paying variety) creates a huge barrier for entry.

Knowing how to code rarely helps, because creating a software product requires more tech skills than just writing code.

Vibe-coding solutions are not suitable for production because AI hallucinates (it’s apparent when you ask it to do something you know how to do).

The remaining option is to pay out of pocket to develop a minimal product. Despite the amount of development companies all around the globe — it is NOT cheap.

Most people can’t go the costly-risky route of developing a product before attempting to sell it. They don’t have the spare cash for the trial & error.

Building first, figuring out the target audience later is a traditional male way of doing things — the manly men who never ask for directions and know best how everything should be done.

Since VCs prefer funding men, there’s sense in their demand to show actual real proof that the Super Brilliant Original Idea (which they hear for the umpteenth time) is in any way profitable.

And it makes it much harder for women to even try — win-win for the patriarchy.

How to flip the script and launch a product spending less than $100 out of pocket:

1. Get really clear on who is your product for, what will it do for them, and why do they need it. Use my workbook “Startup Idea Validation Questions” to guide your research (grab it here).

2. Build a webpage (using Wix, Lovable, or similar) for your product and collect emails for pre-order or early-bird boons. Linky obscures links, so you don’t even need to buy a custom domain.

3. Let your target audience know about your webpage. Listen to their feedback, adjust the content of the webpage (and your product specs) accordingly.

4. Once you have enough people showing interest in buying and a well-defined product spec — open a crowdfunding campaign and invite them to participate. Tell more people about it.

5. When the campaign hits its goal, develop the product your audience desires with the money they already paid for it.

6. Use your marketing system, which brought the people who donated to the campaign, to bring paying customers for your existing product.

7. Profit!

Do you have a question about startups? Hit reply and send it over.

I’ll answer it in one of my next newsletters.

Cheers,

Ela Shapira
Startup Doula