We thought the money we had raised would be enough

At PanDev, we had spent almost two years building our startup when I gave this talk. We work with businesses that need visibility into software development: where projects get delayed, what individual tasks cost and how teams use AI tools. We had a product to improve and customers to serve, and I wanted us to concentrate on that work.

We had raised $300k and had commitments from investors. Other investors approached us with potential checks of $50k or $70k, but we turned them away. I thought we already had enough money to improve the product and move the company forward.