Better just admit it, you're doomed.
If you've founded a startup, or worse yet, are working for one; then in addition to worrying about the product, getting customers, and the rest of the team; you also have the joy of worrying about funding. If you happen to be at one of those places that is worrying about funding right now, I hate to break it to you, but unless you've already seen a term sheet from potential investors; its time to batten down the hatches and get ready to stick things out for the long haul, because funding isn't going to happen any time soon.

Now if you're a founder, and you've been talking to the investors yourself, then this probably isn't really a big surprise. You were hopeful, and maybe a little to optimistic, but really in the back of your brain you were thinking that those guys with the big checkbooks weren't really going to move anytime soon. However, if you are one of the ones back at the office, hunkered down at a computer screen, working on the latest changes to add support for call data records from yet another carrier (because the CEO can't make up his mind which carrier to use), and you are hoping that funding will come in sometime before summer so you can get a real paycheck, and maybe get the air-conditioning fixed in your car; then I regret to inform you that its not going to happen.

The earliest you're going to see any action on the funding at this point is September, or maybe October. But that's like six months away, what the heck is going on? Well, unlike you and me, venture capitalists (and all their minions), have real lives, and do things like go on vacation. So, even though they still have meetings for the next month or so (just to put up a good show for their limited partners), they're going to be sitting in those meetings trying to figure out if they should vacation out in Martha's Vinyard this summer, or maybe try out that villa in Italy their friend told them about. And because any important decision requires all the partners to meet and discuss it; the whole summer gets wiped out by one vacation after another. You're just sunk at this point.

I don't mind so much when a startup I'm working for is not going to be able to make good on its promises right away, but its really annoying to be planning on one thing, when all along someone else knew it wasn't going to happen. Its not a problem that's unique to VCs or startups though, I run into it in business all the time, like when I try to buy a house. After having the loan manager go on vacation (usually for two weeks) right in the middle of my mortgage application on three different purchases, I finally added it as a question on my qualifying list for mortgage companies:

• What are your rates for a 5/1 ARM?
• What are your fees for closing?
• Will you work with my existing title company?
• Will the loan manager be going on vacation in the next two months?

Of course, after getting assurances that the loan manager wasn't going anywhere for my fourth mortgage, it proceeded to get hung up when someone else who had to sign off on the loan was on vacation.

• Will the loan manager ANYONE who has to sign off on the loan be going on vacation in the next two months?

Sigh.  ¶ 9:00 PM