How to fund a startup by Paul Graham

A blog post written by Paul Graham talks everything about funding a startup, to the skills sets needed by startups, and lot more. It's a good two hours read though.

Quick snapshots from the post.

I was surprised recently when I realized that all the worst problems we faced in our startup were due not to competitors, but investors. Dealing with competitors was easy by comparison.

Another way to fund a startup is to get a job. The best sort of job is a consulting project in which you can build whatever software you wanted to sell as a startup. Then you can gradually transform yourself from a consulting company into a product company, and have your clients pay your development expenses.

Fear of failure is an extraordinarily powerful force. Usually it prevents people from starting things, but once you publish some definite ambition, it switches directions and starts working in your favor.

Angels are individual rich people. Angels who've made money in technology are preferable, for two reasons: they understand your situation, and they're a source of contacts and advice.


Some angel investors join together in syndicates. Any city where people start startups will have one or more of them. In Boston the biggest is the Common Angels. In the Bay Area it's the Band of Angels. You can find groups near you through the Angel Capital Association.