Founders & Funders: Are we speaking the same language regarding proving value in this market?
It's funny, as are the conversations I've been having lately. I spent Monday morning with brilliant founders buzzing about their groundbreaking AI models and technical leaps. Then, Monday afternoon, with VCs focused squarely on burn rate, customer acquisition cost, and the exact path to $1M ARR. It felt like they were describing two different companies! The founders spoke of "potential," the VCs spoke of "proof."
And I get it – I see this disconnect often, and honestly, it's warranted from both sides. VCs must ask the tough question: Is the company/product viable? What's the actual strategy? Does the team have the experience or connections? Are they fully committed ('bought in')? Does the business model make sense?
On the flip side, founders or scaling teams are often brilliant engineers, scientists or creators who might be too close to their vision, lack specific commercialization expertise, or simply don't know what VCs need to see or how to present it effectively. Having been on both sides of the table, I truly understand the challenge.
It's not that either side is wrong, but today's tough funding climate and intense investor scrutiny mean there's zero room for error. The market demands an accelerated focus on 'The How' , how does this tech become a real business fast? How do you get efficient customer acquisition now? How do you prove scalability with a limited runway?
This intense pressure, translating vision into a concrete, validated, investor-ready GTM plan on shorter timelines, is immense. Especially for deep tech/AI founders already juggling product dev.
It highlights the urgent need for clear communication, maybe even some 'translation support,' to bridge that gap between brilliant tech and the hard business fundamentals investors need to see quickly. My take? A small part of the solution involves actively 'translating' , ensuring the tech story is rigorously grounded in, and told through, validated market opportunity and clear commercial milestones, right from the start, and if you need some help - get it!
What are you seeing out there? Are founders feeling this disconnect and the time pressure? Are VCs finding companies that can clearly articulate their commercial path fast enough?
Would love to hear your experiences!
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