By Julia Sabitova
If you’re the CEO of Lovable or Higgsfeld and reached $100 million in ARR in under a year, this article isn’t for you — enjoy being a unicorn as thousands of investors beg to fund you.
But if you’re not, then let’s be honest: raising in 2026 is tough. Although global venture funding is growing, raising capital isn’t any easier for the average startup. According to Crunchbase data, more than a third of global funding in 2025 went to just 629 companies, compared to 24% of funding in 2024.
This highlights a growing concentration of capital, making most of that funding effectively inaccessible to early-stage startups. So what can founders do to fix that?
We don’t invite strangers to our houses, and we don’t hire them for important jobs either. For thousands of years, trust and credibility were the most important factors in forming relationships, both business and personal.
In 2025, Silicon Valley companies attracted nearly 50% of the entire U.S. venture funding. Silicon Valley is also home to 312 unicorns, over half of all U.S.-based unicorns.
It’s not because San Francisco Bay Area founders are inherently smarter — it’s largely about being close to capital and networks. When you’re in constant proximity of MAG7 companies and hundreds of VCs, connections happen organically, through social gatherings, meetups and referrals. This is how credibility is formed: through connections and exposure.
So, is networking the secret to raising capital? Partially, but it doesn’t scale. You can’t just meet the whole industry and invite them all to a 1-1.
So instead, you have to build your reputation. Here are my top four pieces of advice on how to build it right.
Be visible
Make your growth visible. Whenever you reach a significant milestone — raising a round, hitting a user target, or achieving revenue growth — the market should hear about it.
We’ve seen countless companies reach a huge target and then fail to spread the word about it.
Make sure to plan all media coverage in advance, keep exclusive news up your sleeve, and have an extensive media strategy. Once the word is out through your company’s social media, pitching to journalists becomes significantly harder. Everybody wants exclusives, and no one wants to write about old news. Global media outlets are all about relationships. Make sure to form a meaningful connection with journalists covering your particular niche.
Focus on customers
The second priority when raising funds is your company’s place in the overall market landscape. Be where your customers are. Many founders make the same mistake: chasing investors instead of customers.
Remember that investors will always find good investment opportunities. Your job is to make sure that your company is one of them. Investors have to see that your company has a sustainable customer acquisition approach and is able to continuously grow its user base.
Chasing investors can even damage your public picture. If VCs see you spending heavily to attract investors rather than customers, it may signal misaligned priorities.
Be a thought leader
Important thing No. 3: thought leadership. You have to prove your credibility through actively participating in conferences and meetups.
Speaking at industry events signals credibility at scale. Conferences are highly selective. Being on stage implies that organizers have already vetted your expertise. Getting on the stage and delivering your core message will help your credibility more than any degree or a title.
Raise symbolic capital
The fourth significant factor is symbolic capital — the way your company is perceived by the market. A great way to acquire symbolic capital is through various ratings and features. They’re usually put together by the larger media outlets and include programs such as ’ 30 Under 30, TechCrunch Startup Battlefield and Slush100.
Similar to conferences, participating in different features shows potential investors that a credible player with a good reputation has already done a background check on you and is ready to endorse you. One well-known logo in your endorsements list can go a long way in securing the next round of funding for your startup.
A somewhat unexpected benefit of getting into the biggest ratings and roundups is your AI visibility. Your company being featured in one of these lists will significantly improve the odds that AI will highlight your company in relevant conversations. AI visibility is increasingly important for user acquisition, considering that according to Feedonomics, 39% of users already use AI instead of traditional search engines for shopping.
Reputation: You can’t buy it
Reputation is one of the rare things in the business world that you can’t just buy.
One of our longstanding partners received an invitation to a dinner with the Royal Family of the United Kingdom, which is something that no amount of marketing budget will give you. It takes a lot of coordinated work and effort that won’t result in exact KPIs on day one, which is why many startups just don’t have the patience and strategy it takes to build credibility.
As development and compute costs fall, the number of startups continues to grow. In that environment, reputation becomes the key differentiator between companies that attract capital — and those that don’t.
Julia Sabitova is a communications strategist and serial entrepreneur with more than 10 years of experience. She co-founded CloEE, an AI adviser for smart manufacturing, and leads BeGlobe, a PR agency for tech startups and VCs. She is a graduate of UC Berkeley’s SkyDeck Accelerator.
Illustration: Dom Guzman
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