Indiegogo's founders intentionally declined early investment offers, planning to use initial traction to secure a better valuation. This high-risk strategy backfired when the 2008 financial crisis hit, demonstrating how market timing can upend even a sound fundraising plan.

Co-founder Danae Ringelman’s idea for Indiegogo stemmed from her emotional response to seeing an older artist desperately seek funding from her, a junior analyst. This personal experience with the unfairness of capital access became the company's core mission.

Instead of being discouraged by over 100 rejections, Canva's founder treated each one as a data point. She added new slides to her pitch deck to pre-emptively address every objection—such as market size or competition—making the pitch stronger and more compelling with each "no."

Prepared's founder faced 'no's' from customers, investors, and parents. He persisted not because he was trying to build a company, but because of a stubborn, personal passion to solve a problem—believing he could make things 'slightly better' even if he ultimately failed.

After 100 investor rejections, Synthesia cold-emailed Mark Cuban, who committed within 10 hours. The key difference was that Cuban had already prototyped similar technology and deeply understood the vision, allowing him to evaluate the team's execution rather than needing to be educated on the concept's validity.

The founders delayed institutional funding to protect their long-term brand strategy. This freedom allowed them to avoid paid ads, which a VC might have demanded for quick growth, and instead focus on building a more powerful and sustainable word-of-mouth engine first.

Unbound Merino used its Indiegogo campaign as a definitive test for market demand, not just a funding tool. This framed the effort as a win-win: either a successful business would be born, or the founder would get a box of the custom t-shirts he personally wanted.

Instead of dismissing harsh criticism, extract the underlying truth. A brutal investor rejection focused Gamma on intertwining product and growth from the very beginning, acknowledging the difficulty of competing against incumbents. This became a foundational part of their strategy.

The founders of Free Soul endured multiple rejections, including literally being laughed out of rooms. They frame this brutal process as a necessary filter that weeded out misaligned VCs and ultimately led them to investors who were personally connected to their mission.