ARTICLE: Why Most Startups Fail at Series A
Topic: Funding doesn't guarantee growth; execution does

TWITTER THREAD (9 tweets)

Tweet 1 (HOOK)
Most startups with 2M Series A funding fail within 18 months. Not because of the market. Because of a stupid mistake they make with the money. Here's what I've seen kill 7 companies I invested in.

Tweet 2 (PATTERN)
They hire for seniority, not fit. Suddenly the team has a VP of Sales from Google and a Head of Product from Meta. Sounds great until Week 3 when they realize those people were used to $1B revenue operations. Different game.

Tweet 3 (SPECIFICS)
One founder told me: We hired to impress investors. He had 6 people at 1M ARR. Added 3 senior execs. Payroll jumped 400%. They burned 2M in 8 months. Died Q2.

Tweet 4 (TWIST)
The founders had no experience saying 'no' to their new execs. The sales lead wanted 15 people. The product head wanted 6 months for a rewrite. Nobody pushed back.

Tweet 5 (LESSON)
Series A is not a gold star. It's a gun held to your head. You have 24 months to hit growth or you won't get Series B. Every dollar matters. Every hire matters. A VP that works at scale doesn't build at scrappy.

Tweet 6 (ALTERNATIVE)
The winners did this instead: kept tight teams. Hired hungry former founders as individual contributors. Delegated decision-making to people with skin in the game. Moved faster than their bigger-company competitors.

Tweet 7 (DATA)
Companies that stayed under 10 people through Series A and hit 10M ARR grew faster post-Series B than companies that expanded to 25 people. Leaner = faster iteration.

Tweet 8 (CALL-TO-ACTION)
If you're fundraising and get a Series A: hire for velocity, not pedigree. Look for people who have built something before, not people who have managed something.

Tweet 9 (CLOSE)
Your money is oxygen. Don't burn it on ego hires. Burn it on people who hustle.

All 9 tweets linked in thread; ready to post