How long did it take you to get funding?

Question

I'm on a team which other than the seed funding, is barely staying afloat and our "promised" series A which would easily put us at 1-2 years of runway has been continually "put off", "delayed" or otherwise - at least that's the lip service the cofounders have given me. We are approaching 2 years on this promised round and I can't help but starting to feel like I haven't been told the whole true about how likely it will be that the company actually gets the money in the bank.This is a tough position for me because I'd like to stay - I truly beleive in the product and it's mission, but I can't help but feel like abandoning ship before everything goes down in flames.Would be grateful for other founders to share just how hard it was to get that first round of funding, or if such a long delay is a pretty bad sign, as well as any other early (think 3rd or 4th) employees who were in my shoes and can provide similar advice.

e1g · Accepted Answer

Unless the business is rapidly growing, it's already dead. There is a funding downturn, and Series A raises are incredibly competitive - only the highest achieving companies get funded, and still at small valuations by comparison to this time last year. If the founders have been struggling for a long time it's most likely because they don't have the numbers to show, which means VCs will not write them another cheque unless its an insider round. I'd be looking for other options, and quick.

duped · Answer

Current job: about four months between starting the funding round and checks clearing. That was quick, as far as I understand.
Last job: it never happened and we ran out of runway. Similar story to yours - cagey founders who didn't want to promise anything but always remained optimistic. A deal kept getting pushed and pushed, and eventually everyone lost their jobs.
Tbqh the biggest lesson was that lack of transparency means that things are bad. Just ask specifics, like what the current runway is, have the founders forgone salary to extend it, did they receive a term sheet, who are the partners that they're speaking with at which VCs, etc. They should have exact answers to those questions.
My advice from being a serial early employee is to start looking for a job the second you don't have faith in the founders to execute. It will usually take you longer to find the next gig than you will get in severance if everything goes to hell. It doesn't hurt to be on the job hunt.

ipaddr · Answer

Asked to see the books. Level with co-founders and make a logical decision. Funding seems to be harder to achieve currently

GoldenMonkey · Answer

Took 9 months and 90 rejections from VCs, before we were funded for Series A.