My app is 95% finished and launching next month - how should I approach investors?
Hey everyone!
I'm building a startup and my app is currently around 95% complete. I'm planning to launch in September, and I'm now looking into raising the initial capital I need to fund customer acquisition (CAC) and give the launch enough momentum.
The product itself is almost ready, so I'm not really looking for funding to "build an idea." The main challenge now is getting the product in front of enough users after launch.
I believe the business model has strong economics and, if the initial acquisition works as expected, the investment could have a relatively short payback period. I'm confident in the potential, but I'm trying to figure out the best way to approach this stage.
For founders who have been through something similar:
- How did you raise your first investment?
- Would you recommend angels, accelerators, VCs, or approaching individual investors directly?
- Is it realistic to raise a relatively small pre-seed round primarily for initial CAC?
- How much traction should I aim to have before approaching investors?
- Would you launch first, collect some real metrics, and then raise, or start fundraising before launch?
- What would you consider essential to have in an investor pitch at this stage?
I'd especially love to hear from founders who were in a similar position - product nearly finished, launch coming soon, and looking for initial capital to acquire the first users.
I'm happy to share more details about the business model if anyone is interested.
Thanks!