We’ve had conversations about funding Palomarr and conversations with interested parties. Real ones, with real numbers. Every time, the strings were more expensive than the money was worth.
When you take venture capital, you’re not buying runway. You’re selling speed. Every decision gets a stakeholder. Every pivot needs a deck. Every quarter needs a story for people who don’t use your product. You gain an incredible budget, but it has to produce at an incredible late or you die attempting to take off.
Bootstrapping isn’t romantic. There’s no safety net. You ship or you don’t eat. But the trade-off most founders underestimate is how fast you move when the only people you answer to are your customers. We’ve built an AI-powered procurement platform, a full intent engine, a leads system, and a media kit generator. Two co-founders, no board meetings, no investor updates. When something breaks on Tuesday, it’s fixed by Wednesday. Not prioritized for next sprint.
The funding conversation assumes growth requires capital. Sometimes it does. But the version of growth where you spend 30% of your time fundraising and 20% reporting to the people who funded you leaves you with half a company and twice the overhead. Not every business needs a Series A. Some just need customers and conviction. This doesn’t mean we’re opposed to funding or will never take any, but at our current stage we feel confident in our runway and positioning in the market as a nimble self-funded player in the space.
