AI Fundraising 2025
58 views4/24/2025
The life of a 2025 AI Startup in video, explained in traditional El Risitas fashion.
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| 00:00 - 00:05 | So, we hit $1 Million ARR. Pretty cool, right? Team's crushing it. |
| 00:05 - 00:07 | Founders say, "Okay, time for Series A!" |
| 00:07 - 00:10 | First VC meeting. We walk in. |
| 00:11 - 00:16 | We say "We're an AI-First company... Agentic AI for Finance." |
| 00:17 - 00:21 | The partner's eyes just GLAZE over with dollar signs. He whispers "AI..." |
| 00:21 - 00:24 | "...Agentic? Is it... is it AGI?" |
| 00:29 - 00:31 | We're like, "Uhh, not quite AGI yet..." |
| 00:31 - 00:34 | He cuts us off! "Doesn't matter! What's the TAM?" |
| 00:38 - 00:40 | "$1 Trillion Finance Sector!" we say. |
| 00:41 - 00:47 | He almost falls off his chair! "Okay, okay, $1M ARR... So, how much money are you raising?" |
| 00:47 - 00:50 | We haven't even shown him the product yet! Not even a screenshot! |
| 00:50 - 00:56 | Then he mentions Harvey AI! "They're getting $3B! You guys are finance Harvey! Bigger market!" |
| 00:58 - 00:59 | So, we casually mention... |
| 00:59 - 01:01 | "...our models are trained on GPT-5." |
| 01:04 - 01:06 | His jaw DROPS! |
| 01:06 - 01:08 | "GPT-5?! Already?! How?!" |
| 01:13 - 01:14 | We just shrugged... "AI secrets." |
| 01:14 - 01:16 | He's already dialing! "Forget diligence!" |
| 01:16 - 01:20 | "We need to get this term sheet out before Sequoia hears about your GPT-5!" |
| 01:21 - 01:27 | Next call, another VC! "Heard you're Harvey but for M&A! Agentic AI... does it do deals on its own? |
| 01:35 - 01:36 | We try to explain it's a collaborator... |
| 01:36 - 01:39 | "Yeah yeah, collaborator, assistant, AGI, whatever! AI!" |
| 01:41 - 01:44 | Then the founders get a text... It's SOFTBANK. |
| 01:44 - 01:47 | The text literally says: "AI? Finance? Agent? Need details? /Masayoshi" |
| 01:47 - 01:49 | We hadn't even pitched them! |
| 01:50 - 01:53 | They asked if $50M was enough for the round! We were thinking $10M! |
| 01:54 - 01:56 | "$50M minimum check." |
| 01:56 - 01:58 | "Just confirm it's AI." |
| 01:58 - 02:02 | "We don't need a demo! Saw your TAM and 'AI-First'! Send the SAFE note!" |
| 02:05 - 02:08 | Our pitch deck is basically 3 slides... |
| 02:10 - 02:11 | Slide 1: AI. |
| 02:11 - 02:13 | Slide 2: $. |
| 02:15 - 02:17 | Slide 3: Picture of a robot in a suit. |
| 02:17 - 02:20 | And they LOVE it! "So efficient! Very AI!" |
| 02:21 - 02:28 | One associate actually asked... "So, how close are your AI agents... to achieving consciousness?" |
| 02:29 - 02:30 | We just stared at him. |
| 02:30 - 02:32 | ...And said "Very... agentic consciousness." |
| 02:36 - 02:39 | He started taking notes furiously! "Agentic... Consciousness..." |
| 02:40 - 02:42 | "That explains the valuation!" |
| 02:50 - 02:55 | So yeah... $1M ARR... but apparently, we're building Skynet for bankers using GPT-5! |
| 02:56 - 02:58 | And the VCs are throwing money... |
| 02:58 - 03:04 | ...at us faster than we can say "But our model sometimes hallucinates!" They don't care! |
| 03:04 - 03:09 | "Hallucinations? Sounds like creative AI! Even better! Add another $50M to the valuation!" |
| 03:09 - 03:11 | It's madness! Beautiful madness! |
| 03:16 - 03:20 | Guess that's the 2025 AI fundraising experience! |
| 03:23 - 03:26 | Just gotta hope the actual product keeps up with the hype train! |
| 03:31 - 03:36 | Anyway... back to building... and maybe answering that Softbank call. Maybe. |