Some people launch their startup with a press release.

Others start with a product.

I started with 63 rejections, 6 conference talks, 1 rural gym, 3 investor decks, and a 100% belief rate — from exactly one person: me.

This is what it means to learn before the world sees your product.

Every founder is a student first

Not of school — of systems, of incentives, of failure.

Before I had traction, I learned how labs get funded.
Before I had a team, I learned how to write research papers.
Before I had a product, I learned how to stay focused — alone.

Investors are looking for certain traits. Without these, you have little chance of raising a single dollar. Let’s talk about how you can use my formula to build a repeatable process for raising capital.

These are the real lessons

1. No one cares until they all care – You’ll be invisible until you're “inevitable.” That turn happens fast.

2. Press doesn’t convert if the product’s not real – Media validates. But only momentum sells.

3. Pitching is not begging – It's offering an invitation to join your journey. Frame it that way.

4. There is no roadmap – Especially not in deeptech. You’ll build the map by walking.

Build like your future depends on it — because it does.

At 20, I wasn’t funded. But I had published.
I wasn’t in a lab. But my simulations worked.
I wasn’t in Silicon Valley. But I had Valley mentors.

The startup existed before the website. The mission existed before the money. The story was worth telling before anyone was listening.

And that’s the lesson.

If you’re truly early — don’t stress the absence of a product.

Use that time to gather lessons so the product, when it arrives, doesn’t just work — it matters.