Cloudmine on seed funding: "this was the 'you are now homeless' goal"

CloudMine cofounder Brendan McCorkle explains the near “valley of death” experience his company encountered as they sought a first round of seed funding and how he found help in the Philly tech community, in a guest post for FounderDating:

“In the middle of all this, I recalled a conversation I had with Derek [Kleinow] about the hiring of our first two engineers. We were speaking about the strategic value of hiring engineers before we were “ready” financially. Essentially, this was a conversation about calculated risk. I remember he told me: “Let me be clear: I like how you think about this strategically. If the round takes too long, I won’t let you guys get in trouble.” Derek was opening the door for a later conversation, but at the time I didn’t take him too seriously because, of course, we didn’t think we’d need help.
Fast-forward a bit, and we were in desperate need of help. How serious was Derek? Would he actually front money from a round that hadn’t closed with no guarantee attached? I put off the call because I didn’t know how to ask for what we needed. I didn’t want him to say ‘no.’ I wasn’t ready for rejection but I really had no other viable options. With dread in the pit of my stomach, I called him and started: “We’re in troubleâ€¦”

People: Brendan McCorkle

-30-

CONTRIBUTE TO THE
JOURNALISM FUND
Already a contributor? Sign in here

Cloudmine on seed funding: “this was the ‘you are now homeless’ goal”

City gov now has an official portal for Philadelphians who want the COVID-19 vaccine

Science Center scored a federal STEM grant to expand its BULB training program

PPP loans just opened to all small businesses again. Here’s what to keep in mind when applying

Why global asset manager Macquarie Investment Management calls Philly ‘home’