r/16VCFund

I'm building a local marketplace startup and I'm at a point where I'm not sure what the smartest next step is.

The product is mostly built, and I've started getting businesses onto the platform. The goal is to help people discover local businesses and services while giving smaller businesses more visibility.

I've been funding everything myself and have tried different marketing experiments to get the first users. But honestly, my money is starting to run out, and I still need to spend on marketing and growth.

The problem is, I don't really know how the funding side works either. I've never raised money before, so I don't know how founders actually approach investors, find the right funding programs, or even know when they're ready to raise.

Right now I'm considering:

Keep bootstrapping and grow slowly

Focus on generating revenue first

Start exploring funding or accelerators

If you were in my situation, what would you do?

And for someone who has never raised funding before, where should they even start learning about the process?

I'd really appreciate honest advice from founders who've been through this stage.

We are building a natural rubber trading and supply business in Tripura, Northeast India, connecting local suppliers with established buyers and manufacturers.

Over the past year, we have built our customer base, developed relationships across the supply chain and, most importantly, created real demand for our products.

Today, we have ongoing requirements from buyers that we cannot always fulfil.

The reason is simple: we need to purchase rubber upfront, while payments from larger buyers often come later.

Our growth is therefore limited not by demand, but by working capital.

Our vision is to build a more organised rubber supply chain in Tripura through better procurement, collection, storage, logistics and technology.

We are now looking to connect with investors, lenders and strategic partners who understand working-capital-driven businesses.

We are happy to share our numbers, transaction history and business details privately with serious parties.

We're not looking for someone to invest in just an idea. We're looking for the right partner to help us scale something that has already started working.

If you know someone who could help, DM me or tag them below.

SEEKING: Technical Co-Founder for Street Dice Gaming App

We're building DiceFace - a social video gaming app for street dice
(similar to Pokerface's video poker model, but for dice games).

THE OPPORTUNITY:
\\\\- Untapped market (street culture + gaming)
\\\\- Proven monetization model (virtual currency)
\\\\- Potential venture capital funding
\\\\- 50/50 equity split with CTO title

WHAT WE NEED:
\\\\- Strong full-stack developer (React Native/Flutter preferred)
\\\\- 6+ months commitment to MVP
\\\\- Excited about gaming/social apps
\\\\- Self-motivated & startup-minded

WHAT YOU GET:
\\\\- Equal equity stake
\\\\- Full technical autonomy
\\\\- Co-founder title
\\\\- Potential salary once funded

TIMELINE:
\\\\- MVP in 6 months
\\\\- Full launch in 6 months

Interested? Let's chat about building something big in an
underserved market.

Equity available. I’m from the Bay Area. I live in Northern California now.

Hi everyone,
I’m doing research to better understand how founders approach the \*\*idea research and validation\*\* stage before building an MVP.
I’d really appreciate hearing about your real experiences.
Some questions I have:
What was the most difficult part of researching your idea?
How did you know there was actually a market for your product?
What took the most time during validation?
Where did you find reliable information?
How did you research competitors?
Did you interview potential users? If so, what was challenging about it?
What mistakes did you make during the validation phase?
Which tools did you use (Google, ChatGPT, Gemini, Reddit, Perplexity, Notion, etc.)? What were they missing?
What information did you wish you had from day one?
I’d also love your suggestions:
If you could build the perfect tool to help founders with research and validation, what would it do?
What features would save you the most time?
What repetitive tasks would you automate?
What existing tools still fail to solve?
What’s one thing you wish existed that would have made your startup journey easier?
Feel free to share your story, biggest lesson, or even your biggest mistake. Honest answers are much more valuable than perfect ones.
Thanks in advance—I really appreciate your insights!