What really drove the point home, was when it was mentioned the difference between attempting to frow a company in SEA as compared to trying to make a breakthrough in the US itself.

Knowing your fundraising strategy, and how it’s going to have exponential growth

One of the many things that they witness in SEA founders, is probably the inability to not have lightning fast growths due to either the founder not having the right strategies, or the product itself was not made for that sort of impact.

When most founders then realize the could not achieve some of the speed needed, we would typically regress to become a SME, or what was known as a lifestyle business there.

Many tech VC’s are always on the lookout for potential companies that can deal with aggressive growth, and if your returns is just as good as something a banking institution will enable a loan for, then you do not need to raise money from VC’s at all.

Are you raising a 10M USD Seed Round or just a 1M USD Seed Round company?

As much as 10M USD sounds absolutely overwhelming to many people, there are indeed US startups that would, with either experience, or a proven strategy, show that a X amount required, is needed to reach a 10X amount target in the near future.

Something that potentially many SEED stage companies I encounter with in Malaysia have not had the luxury to experience, or even come out with a convincing plan that would enable that sort of strategic growth.

In US itself, due to the entire ecosystem being very poised with strategic partnerships, that could fund newer inclusions in their corporate institutions, would already give many of the startup companies there a huge headstart moving forward.

At the end of the day, how much confidence do you have that with a strong significant warchest, the growth trajectory of becoming a unicorn is secured?

A growth with EXTREME UNCERTAINTY

That’s when the paragraph I read from the Lean Startup book by Eric Ries comes to mind.

“A startup is a human institution designed to create a new product or service under conditions of extreme uncertainty”

As with what my Co-Founder, Kendrick always say, our journey thus far has consistently been feeling like taking a stab into the dark.

As much as with a traditional business, to a certain extent with great historical data, you would always know that by building a Condo with 100 rooms for example will give you XXX amount of revenue, hence I would need XXX amount of capital to build this condo + do marketing.

For any new initiatives or startups out there, most of the time these formula’s are not made apparent, and consistent failing and learning and improving would be one of the core strategies to move forward until you find that product market fit that will then bring you on a propulsion for the legendary “Exponential Growth”.

As much as they say, your growth iteration would just mean as much as how much runway you have left till death.