A founder shares how securing early angel investment and VC funding backfired psychologically. After quitting his job at Doublepoint, he launched Skald with a co-founder, only to find the pressure of managing investor expectations disrupted his decision-making. The financial cushion created unintended stress.

The author admits his focus shifted from solving real problems to chasing vanity metrics. He began evaluating pivots based on perceived growth potential rather than customer need, contradicting the team's original open-source strategy. This internal conflict stalled progress and clouded his strategic judgment.

He realized the expectations were largely self-imposed, projecting his own fears onto supportive investors. The experience highlights a common founder dilemma: early funding can warp priorities, turning the search for product-market fit into a race for validation. The lesson is to trust your own process over investor optics.