Jeff McConnell pointed me to a great article by Mark Suster entitled On Leadership, Teams, Success, & Happiness last night. Well down in it he writes this:

I meet entrepreneurs all the time who tell me one of the following things:

• “I’ve had trouble raising money. Investors want to see more traction. This frustrates me. I thought you were supposed to be VCs?  You know, ‘venture’ capitalists?  How come you guys only invest when you have proof of success?” or;
• “I don’t have enough money to hire my team yet. They’re waiting on the sidelines, ready to join as soon as I raise some money.  We’re not moving fast enough. I can’t get traction with people and I can’t get people without money and I can’t get money without traction.  It’s one big cluster fuck of a recursive loop!”

Ain't that the truth. I bet I hear both of these stories at least once a week, often times once a day. And here is the truth that Mark points out, Angels and VCs fund people all the time with no traction. They do. They just are not funding you.

If this is the case you really need to understand why. And you might not like the answer because oftentimes the answer is you. But if you understand the why you might be able to fix it if you are willing to do so.