The Execution Test

𝐖𝐞𝐞𝐤𝐥𝐲 𝐓𝐚𝐤𝐞

Some founders confuse fundraising with building a business. They spend months perfecting pitch decks while competitors ship products and serve customers.

This week, I'm examining two founders who took radically different approaches to proving their concepts. One used industry relationships to validate demand and generate revenue before seeking capital. The other built a beautiful story but never tested whether anyone wanted what they were selling.

Their contrast reveals a fundamental truth: market validation beats investor validation every time. The founders who build traction first raise money faster - and on better terms.

𝐅𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐟𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐬

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐃𝐨𝐰𝐧𝐥𝐨𝐚𝐝

𝐅𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐀: 𝐘𝐞𝐬 ✅

This founder's connected fitness system provides resistance training equipment with analytics software for commercial gyms and boutique studios. The hardware market raises immediate concerns, but their approach changed everything.

Their fitness equipment sales background provided direct access to decision-makers. Instead of building in isolation, they validated the concept through existing relationships before writing a single line of code.

The results spoke louder than any pitch deck: $30K in early revenue from five facilities, two repeat orders, and a pilot program with a regional gym chain. They didn't pitch us a market - they sold into it.

Hardware startups typically burn significant capital proving feasibility. This founder proved market demand first, then built the minimum viable product to serve confirmed customers. Their capital efficiency created multiple paths to growth.

The combination of proven demand and industry expertise made this an easy yes.

𝐅𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐁: 𝐍𝐨 ❌  

This founder's creator commerce platform promised to help travel influencers monetize through curated storefronts, affiliate links, and sponsored products. The creator economy represents a massive opportunity with clear monetization challenges.

Their marketing background showed in every detail. The deck looked incredible, the brand felt Instagram-ready, and their market insights demonstrated fluency in creator economy dynamics. Everything suggested someone who understood the space.

The fundamental problem emerged during deeper diligence: all vision, no validation. They'd raised $1mm and spent over a third of it on product development and marketing. Despite attracting a few thousand general users, zero travel creators had actually signed onto the platform.

They'd built a pitch-perfect presentation for a product their target market had yet to test. If even a small group of creators were actively using the platform, this would have been a different conversation - and this is why I said no.

𝐌𝐲 𝐑𝐮𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐤

𝐀 𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐤𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐤𝐞𝐲 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐦𝐲 𝐢𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧

𝐄𝐧𝐠𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐂𝐨𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐫

𝐐: 𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐛𝐚𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐛𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐮𝐬 𝐟𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐲 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐬?

Market validation must come before investor validation. The most fundable founders aren't those with the best decks - they're those with the best traction. Customers provide clearer signals than investors about product-market fit.

Start with what you can control: customer conversations, low-cost prototypes, early sales. Use existing networks and relationships to test assumptions quickly. Try not to chase investor validation before proving market demand.

The smartest approach treats fundraising as a tool for scaling proven concepts, not validating untested theories. Build something people want first - the capital will follow more easily and on better terms.

Even in competitive fundraising environments, proof beats polish every time.

𝐒𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐓𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐋𝐞𝐝𝐠𝐞𝐫

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𝐂𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐓𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬

Building a business and building a fundraising deck require different skills - and getting the sequence right matters. The market teaches you what investors can't: whether your solution solves a real problem that people will pay for.

Some founders can raise on story alone, especially those with previous exits or in hyped markets. But for most founders, proving demand comes first. The strongest fundable position is having customers who already want what you're building.

The best founders understand this dynamic. They use whatever resources they have - relationships, expertise, scrappy solutions - to validate demand before seeking capital to scale it.

The ledger entry is clear: bet on founders who treat fundraising as fuel for proven concepts, not validation for untested theories.

Auditing more talent next week,
Will Stringer

𝐅𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤

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