I am a single founder working on a consumer mobile app for the past 2.5 years. Primarily working on the apps retention rate to try to get some semblance of product market fit. Then when I do, going to focus on growing revenue. I have been working basically full-time on this app since my main job doesn’t take up much of my time.

I’ve held off on raising money so far, partly because I see no point in raising money unless I can hire at least 2 app developers which I estimate to require at least $500,000 in funding to do so. I don’t believe I can raise this amount. (Correct me if I’m wrong, I’ve never raised money before)

If I can only raise enough money to pay myself + expenses (<$120,000 in funding) then I might as well stay at my main job and continue working full time.

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However, I’ve recently been asking myself a few questions.

Can I just hire app developer contractors instead of app developer employees for cheaper to reduce how much I need to raise?

How much do I need to raise to hire at least 2 app developer contractors?

How much can I realistically raise for my business?

If I could hire only one app developer contractor/employee would that be worth it to raise money and quit my job?

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Hoping you guys could guide me in my situation. :)

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My Apps 6 Month Retention - 10%
My Apps Monthly Revenue - $500 (Have not focused on this as much as retention)

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TL;DR - Single founder, working on mobile app for 2.5 years. Only want to raise money if I can hire a few app developers. Not sure I can raise minimum amount I need to hire a few app developers.

  • cyb_tachyon@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    10 months ago

    No, not for you specifically. Here’s what I would do instead:

    1. Decide if you’re building a rocketship for VC’s, or a more sustainable slower growth business where angels/customers might invest.
    2. If there’s VC-level potential, create a 5 page pitch deck showing your problem, thesis, goal, and current #'s.
    3. Get warm intros to VC’s, as many as you can. Don’t cold email unless they’re on one of those the “cold emails please” list.
    4. Say you plan on raising a round in 6 months or so, and, if they have the time, would love to get their advice on the sorts of growth milestones and KPI’s you should be keeping in mind to have the sort of rocket ship growth to a billion dollar company.
    5. Use the advice and your customer’s feedback to pivot, pivot again, and pivot to find the serious traction needed to identify a possible product-market fit.
    6. With those #'s, find a co-founder using YCombinator or one of the many co-founder tools out there, date around, and then pick one.
    7. Now, six months or more later, you’re ready to start the process of raising. Expect it to take 3-10 months if you haven’t done it before, there’s a lot of specific sales type skills you need to develop to do it successfully.

    Good luck!