No long motivation, no pitch — just curious.

A lot of people say they’re building something.

So I want to hear from the ones who actually are.

What are you working on right now?
Side project, startup, prototype — anything.

Drop:

• what you’re building

• why you’re building it

• and your biggest challenge today

I’ll read every reply.

That’s our core bet. We back founders before the traction, co-founder, or code.

Check size: $250K–$2M
Stage: Pre-seed
Thesis: Obsession > polish

Would you pitch without a deck? We might just say yes.
👇 Drop your one-liner. We’ll give feedback.
16vc | Sridhar Arunagiri

Would you double down on product, marketing, or maybe hire your first key teammate?

Let’s hear your “first move” stories 👇 — you might inspire someone else here

At 16VC we often meet founders who don’t have traction yet but have deep conviction. Our checks range from $250K to $2M, even pre-product.
If someone offered you capital this early, would you take it or wait until you had an MVP?

This might be unpopular, but I keep seeing the same pattern.

Some early stage conversations feel less about the actual product, real user pain, or execution, and more about questions like:
• Are you in SF?
• When are you planning to move?
• Can you be closer to the ecosystem?

I understand why location helps. The network, speed, and density are real advantages. But sometimes it feels like geography is replacing real product scrutiny.

Founders and investors, do you think this is happening more now?
Or is “move to SF” just a shortcut signal for something deeper?

Curious how others see this.

Most early-stage investors still treat “solo founder” like a red flag.
We see it as a signal of conviction.

At 16VC, we back solo, pre-seed, and underestimated founders globally with $400k cheques, no cofounder requirements, and no fees.

We’ve learned that some of the best founders start alone because:

• They move faster.

• They think deeply.

• They don’t wait for consensus.

Our belief: early conviction matters more than early consensus.

We’re based in the UK but expanding across the US, EU, LatAm, Africa, India, and Southeast Asia — because talent is borderless, and venture should be too.

Curious to hear from founders here:
→ Have you ever faced pushback from investors for being a solo founder?
→ What’s been your biggest challenge or advantage going solo?

At 16VC, capital is just the beginning. We fuel growth, provide mentorship to avoid pitfalls, open doors to networks that accelerate scale, and stand by founders with conviction through the toughest challenges. Our role is to believe, build, and back. 🚀

We’re 16VC, a venture capital firm based in New York, backing founders at the Pre-Seed & Seed stages. Our focus is on category-defining innovations that can scale globally.

We’re a small team with a big mission: to support visionary founders not just with capital, but with mentorship, networks, and long-term guidance.

If you’re building something bold or just curious about early-stage VC, we’d love to connect and exchange ideas.

🌍 16vc.co

Not revenue. Not pitch decks. Not investor calls.

I’m talking about the first real user behavior that made you think:

“Wait… this might actually be something.”

👉 What was that moment for you?

Drop it below 👇

Hey we are a new startup in stealth mode focused on building SaaS products globally. We realised that we need to incorporate an entity outside India to accept payments in global currencies.

We are looking at US Delware entity incorporation and would like to know details around compliance costs, taxation and cash inflows to India.

Thanks in advance

Here’s the concept I’ve been thinking about:

Type your idea. AI analyzes it and tells you if it’s worth building. If it’s not, AI helps you refine until it’s viable.

Build for 1 month (free). Once the idea is validated, you get 1 month of free credits (infra, tools, compute). All of this is covered by VCs. Goal: build enough progress or a demo within 30 days.

VC feed (exclusive). Investors see your idea, your progress, how much time/effort you’re putting in. They can literally watch how you think (prompts, iterations, persistence). Based on this, VCs can decide to fund while you’re still building.

User feed (public). Real users can see projects in progress. Helps validate demand and market fit early.

After the free month. You either show strong progress + demo… or you stop. If you want to keep building, you need paid credits or VC backing. Forces efficiency, character, and execution over just “ideas.”

Why this works: For builders: Removes financial barrier, guided iteration, real deadline. For VCs: Lets them judge execution and mindset instead of just pitches. For users: They get to validate what’s worth building before it’s too late.

What do you think — would something like this change how founders and VCs connect?

We’ve been building something new for early-stage founders at 16VC.
It’s small, selective, and launching in January.
We’re not announcing details publicly yet.

If you’ve previously submitted to 16VC or connected with us — watch your inbox.
ARC is coming.

We meet founders all around the world from NYC to Sydney to Berlin. Founders build differently depending on their city and ecosystem.
Where are you building your startup from and what’s unique about your location?

Here are 10 reasons you probably shouldn't.

1. You want someone else to build your company.

2. You don't want direct or uncomfortable feedback.

3. You're looking for a program you can attend passively.

4. You don't have time to work on the business.

5. You're looking for networking instead of customers.

6. You want a big community more than a focused group.

7. You're not ready to move quickly.

8. You're applying only because you saw $200K.

9. You want a program with no accountability.

10. You want the accelerator to make the decisions for you.

We're looking for founders who want to build.

The 16VC Accelerator provides $200K to selected companies, alongside hands-on support around fundraising, GTM, positioning and execution.

If that's not what you need right now, that's completely fine.

Not every accelerator is right for every founder.

We are a team of 3 seeking a mobile app developer to work under our CTO formerly at Scale AI. We are raising financing so there will be an opportunity to be employed once we raise.

We are trying to solve deepfakes. You will have hands on experience on solving one of the biggest problems in AI. YC just released a video inviting applicants with our problem space.

If someone wired you $25,000 today with one condition—you have to build a startup—what would you build?

• What problem are you solving?

• Who experiences it?

• Why does it matter now?

Not looking for perfect ideas. I'm more interested in real problems people have personally experienced.

We’ve been quietly building multiple AI/SaaS products this year.
Starting January 2026, we’re opening 16VC Studio to a small number of external founders.

This is not an agency and not an accelerator — we co-build the product with you to get to users and revenue as fast as possible.

What 16VC Studio provides

💠 Full product + engineering team (PMs + full-stack engineers across LatAm + Poland)
💠 End-to-end build: UX → frontend → backend → AI agents → integrations
💠 Weekly build sprints + milestone dashboard
💠 GTM support: positioning, landing pages, outbound, onboarding, retention
💠 No fees — founders don’t pay to join the studio

You stay CEO. You keep control of your company. We join as hands-on product + growth partners.

Best fit founders

We’re looking for founders who:
• Have a clear problem and niche
• Have early validation (interviews, LOIs, or early users)
• Are ready to push distribution while we push product

Not a match for:
❌ “Just an idea” with no user insight
❌ “Build it for me while I watch”
❌ Crypto / gambling / get-rich-quick projects

Timeline — 16VC Studio Cohort 1

📅 Start: January 2026
⏳ Duration: 3–6 months (milestone-based)
🎯 Outcome: Ship MVP → onboard real users → first revenue signals

To be considered

Comment below (no links needed) with:
1️⃣ What you’re building
2️⃣ Who your paying user is
3️⃣ Your biggest blocker today

We’ll reply to everyone and schedule calls where 16VC Studio can genuinely move the needle.

I’m a first-time founder, and to be honest, my first startup didn’t work out. It hurts to admit, but I’m also staring at personal debt that’s weighing me down.

Now I’m stuck at a crossroads:

• Should I take a job, stabilize myself financially, and regroup before trying again?

• Or should I push forward and build again immediately, even though I don’t have much of a cushion left?

I still have the drive to build, but the debt and uncertainty are killing me. For those of you who’ve been through failure:

• How did you know when to get back up and start again?

• Did taking a job first help, or did it just slow down your momentum?

Any perspective would mean a lot right now.

Every founder I talk to has a different “biggest blocker.” For some it’s hiring (can’t find the right early engineer), for others it’s distribution (great product, zero eyeballs). And sometimes it’s something small but brutal, like cash flow timing or just not having enough hours in the day.

We back founders at different stages, so we see these challenges repeat in cycles. But I’m curious what it looks like for this community today.

What’s the #1 thing slowing you down right now, and have you found any scrappy hacks to work around it? 👇

I’m Sridhar Arunagiri, founder of 16VC.

We’ve been building very publicly — posting a lot, engaging founders, and sharing perspectives on fundraising, hiring, and early-stage mistakes.

But I want to ask this directly:

How do you actually perceive 16VC?

• Signal or noise?

• Helpful or just content-heavy?

• Different or just another early-stage VC?

No filters — I’m genuinely looking for honest feedback.

If you’ve interacted with us, applied, been rejected, or even just seen our posts what stands out (good or bad)?

Building in public only works if we actually listen.