We're in a strange place right now, sat in the middle of two pieces of startup advice.<p>Piece of advice #1: "The time to raise money is not when you need it, or when you reach some artificial deadline like a Demo Day. It's when you can convince investors, and not before."<p>Piece of advice #2: The best time to raise VC money is when you have product/market fit and need rocket fuel to grow.<p>We were having conversations with investors to suss out the London startup scene (we feel like outsiders mostly having kept ourselves to ourselves) and to make connections with industry leaders who might make great advisors.<p>2 Weeks ago these conversations suddenly turned into "Shut up and take my money.". Once this started happening, it happened at every meeting, with investors swiftly upping the amount they believe we should take... we have a herd all telling us to take their money. We haven't done a proper pitch to anyone.<p>We were aiming at #2 (product/market fit), and have stumbled upon #1 (convinced investors forming a herd).<p>The problem is expectations. We are at seed stage, and are developing the product/market fit. We have customers lined up, but we're not yet seeing good traction with the existing customers we're engaged with. We want to carry on improving the product, testing as we go.<p>If we take VC money we very much believe we'd be under expectation to focus on growth before the product is the right one for the market (it has a lot of promise today, but it's not yet proving itself fully).<p>Our current view is to to explain to investors/VCs that we're still seed and take the money only if it doesn't come with conditions and is understood we're still seed.<p>Not a lot of wisdom out there on whether you should decline VC money. We're not of the belief that all money is good, especially if it proves to be a distraction from just making the a great product that customers really want.