Stacy L ChinFounder, KeepYourEquity · I get the government to write you checks

I hope I’m not the only one who experienced this…

16 Oct 2026 · 1 min

Watch on YouTube

0:51

In this YouTube monologue, Stacy L Chin recounts her experience with her first venture, where despite speaking to over 100 investors she failed to secure venture capital. She identifies two key reasons for the failure: ineffective communication of the science to investors and the company being too early in its development, lacking sufficient data. Investors repeatedly asked for more data, which required additional funding. Chin explains how non‑dilutive funding through the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program provided over $1 million, enabling her to build prototypes, manufacture them, and conduct human trials without sacrificing equity. She frames fundraising as a de‑risking problem rather than a pure capital‑raising issue and invites viewers to share similar experiences.

Chapters

So I'm a bit embarrassed to admit this, but in my first venture, I completely failed to raise venture funding. I talked to at least over 100 investors, and for the longest time, I thought they just didn't understand the science and what we're trying to accomplish. But the truth was, I didn't understand really 2 things. One, I didn't know how to talk to the audience, and 2, we were just way too early. They kept telling me, come back when you have more data, but Generating the data costs more money, right? And that's when non-dilutive funding completely changed everything for me. So through the SBIR program, we raised over $1 million to build prototypes, manufacture our prototypes to get them into human trials without giving away more equity. And the biggest lesson I've learned, sometimes it's not a fundraising problem, it's just more of a de-risking problem. Is that something that you've experienced before? Let me know below.