Simon Burns is the co-founder of Wealthcoin, a bitcoin investment services startup that recently graduated from California incubator Boost VC. Here, he shares insights from his ongoing journey to raise a seed round. One of the most talked-about trends in the bitcoin ecosystem is that raising capital as an early-stage bitcoin startup is harder now than it was a year ago. Sure, we’re in the midst of bitcoin investment increasing dramatically year over year, but funding is down quarter over quarter , and there are other reasons VC dollars are hesitant to move into bitcoin startups. In 2012, growth rates for the sector were still unclear, so it was considerably easier to "sell the dream, not the data". Now that data has come out around consumer wallet use and merchant adoption, some investors are shying away. It’s been in this context that our team has set out to explore raising a seed round. I’ve been meeting with early-stage bitcoin founders in San Francisco and New York who’ve accomplished what I’m setting out to do. Founders ranged from enterprise bitcoin data-as-a-service providers with a few clients to consumer wallet companies with hundreds of thousands. Despite their differences, however, they offered much of the same advice. Here are the five things I’ve learned so far: 1. Bitcoin VCs first, general VCs never The most often repeated advice I’ve received from industry founders is this: Don’t talk to VCs who don’t get bitcoin, ever. This has come from enterprise- and consumer-focused founders alike, because almost every founder I spoke to had a story that goes something like this: They’re asked to meet with a big partner at a name-brand VC fund. Next, the founder realizes they aren’t an investment target, they’re just a guinea pig there to teach the investment team about […]
