This Is The Only Reason Startups Should Raise Venture Capital

The most asked startup question has a simple, four-point answer

Joe Procopio
4 min readJul 21, 2022

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image by jcomp on freepik

It’s definitely the question I get most often: “How do I get the money I need to fund my startup idea?”

And it’s the one I answer the least, because there’s usually something hiding behind that question. When entrepreneurs come to me with that question, experience has taught me that they’re looking for a shortcut to the long, painful, and expensive fundraising process. But there isn’t one.

My thing isn’t about helping entrepreneurs raise money. There are a million different resources, including the venture capital firms themselves, that are better equipped to help a smart entrepreneur figure out how to go about finding money for their startup idea.

My thing is helping entrepreneurs build startups that are better equipped to make money, by generating revenue and realizing profit. Admittedly, I’ve built and sold companies both with and without investor funds. So I’m well versed in doing it both ways. And I can tell you that raising money and making money are two completely different goals.

In fact, raising money isn’t even a goal at all, it’s just the first step on a long journey with no guaranteed outcome. So I’d always rather raise…

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Joe Procopio
Joe Procopio

Written by Joe Procopio

I'm a multi-exit, multi-failure entrepreneur. AI pioneer. Technologist. Innovator. I write at Inc.com and BuiltIn.com. More about me at joeprocopio.com

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