Ask HN: I am a deaf founder who never give up. How can I network and get funded?

[cod3boy]

I am shy with social anxiety and I almost always fail at networking during events due to both my medical condition and fear. On the top of this in the current world, everyone has a short attention span, everyone is busy, obsessed with being quick — while anything in life worth doing takes time.

https://github.com/sievehq/Manual/blob/master/manual.md

[pomatic]

First question: there's deaf and deaf -- how severe is your loss and how good is your speech? That information will help us help you.

Second - which country do you come from? Many now have some form of assistance dog specifically aimed at deaf ("Hearing dogs" or similar). These serve a very useful purpose in sign posting the fact that you have a disability which is otherwise not visible. They also act as awesome icebreakers. The dogs are bred and trained specifically to deal with situations such as crowded and noisy rooms, and will not be the least bit anxious or feel the least bit threatened in such a situation.

Lastly, there's various strategies for dealing with the phone side of things - in the UK there's NGTT, an app which puts a stenographer on the call too, so it can be subtitled in real time. You can obviously do something similar with a co-worker if necessary.

I'm profoundly deaf. I've run my own software company for ten years, a large chunk of which I was also remote working on a small island (off grid). I don't think being deaf has made an iota of difference to my career, you just have to identify the issues and route round them, as you would any other obstacle in day to day life.

[jason_slack]

> I've run my own software company for ten years, a large > chunk of which I was also remote working on a small island > (off grid).

I'd like to know more about this. The island and how you setup your off-grid existence.

[jason_slack]

1. I think you should stop telling people you have social anxiety. Let them decide. For many people you meet it might not be something they notice or care about. Perhaps they have something too.

2. For #1 remove "I am shy with social anxiety and I almost always fail at networking during events due to both my medical condition and fear. On the top of this in the current world, everyone have short attention span, everyone is busy, obsessed with being quick — while anything in life worth doing takes time." from your GitHub.

Also, I'm not sure you should tell people you worked for $120/month or that you rejected offers from Google and Facebook. It sort of sounds like you want people to feel sorry for you, then bragging. At least my opinion, no offense intended.

3. Practice writing good e-mails. This may be the first impressions you give people and investors.

4. I have deaf friends. They are all successful. I can ask them why they think they are. I think they are because they observe what's around them and are methodical when interacting with others.

Good luck!

[cod3boy]

Removed the initial intro, my intention was more to showcase the startup, progress and then how to go about next steps given my problem. Thanks for the feedback :)

I've tried cold emails, while they work many times, a lot of times good investors value intro over cold emails.

Would love to get in touch with your friends!

[pomatic]

Now the intro has changed, I'm unsure what you are asking for. If you need funding, either bootstrap or find a co-founder who has the social capabilities you need to raise funds. Bootstrapping is lot easier IMO, and carries less risk.

If you are funded and want to market/sell your product, get a sales person (part time, perhaps). Cold calling (whether by email or phone) requires a specific set of skills and very thick skin. If that's not you, delegate.

If you have no choice but to cold-email, use Linked In so that they are targeted and get a marketing person's advice on how to phrase those initial contacts so you have a good hook. (NB all the above is generic business startup advice, the same advice applies to anyone: identify the critical weaknesses; backfill from elsewhere.

[jason_slack]

> Would love to get in touch with your friends!

my e-mail is in my profile. Drop me a line. I can ask them :-)

[brainomite]

Fellow hard of hearing individual. I am 1 step below needing to use sign language. I also have some social anxiety.

For me? I try to arrive early before the event starts. This ensures there are fewer people around. For larger events and or talks, I bring my own assistive devices to assist with hearing at a distance and a noisy environment.

[Blackstone4]

Network events will probably not make or break your startup. So relax on that front.

Focus on the product and clients. This means speaking to clients either over email or in-person (or on the phone? not sure if there's an voice app).

It sounds like your nervous and worried about how everyone else is so busy. I could infer that you might not value what you have to say which could come across in conversation. People then won't listen which creates a negative feedback loop. Try to figure out how to break that perception.

[brianwawok]

What are your skills? Can you code a MVP and get traction? You can always be email only for quite a while with a product, so no one would even know you are deaf.

[cod3boy]

Here is more, we've launched and we have traction. https://github.com/sievehq/Manual/blob/master/manual.md

[depecode]

just start putting off the shyness and put on the courage to approach others.... It all starts with one steps..