Ron Fleming, co-head of emerging companies at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pitman, tossed out some practical insights at Business Insider's Startup 2012 conference:
"Unless you're one or two luminaries in this marketplace, it's going to be hard to raise capital," he says. "It's going to take twice as long, and it's going to be four times harder than you ever thought."
There are plenty of great stories out there of companies that raised a ton of money right out of the gate, but for every one of them, there are hundreds of others that struggle for ages to get funding, or fail outright.
The money is, and has always been, out there and available. But that doesn't mean that you're guaranteed to get a piece — or that anyone will, for that matter.
"The question is whether people are willing to open up their checkbooks to fund somebody's dream or great idea," says Fleming. At times, the whole market will tighten up and make things harder for everyone.
The activity of VCs and angels flows all the way down from the highest levels. For instance, all the excitement over the big tech IPOs and acquisitions made people more willing to put their money out there to support early stage ideas, says Fleming.
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