[forgingahead]

Look, congrats to Spreedly for this raise, but we honestly need to stop writing articles this way and posting them to HN.

Titling something "How X did Y using tool Z" has a very clear implication: Y can be achieved (and so X is substitutable by anyone reading) as long as you use tool Z and follow the steps in the article.

But then you read the article and the key parts of WHY Spreedly succeeded in raising money is glossed over as an afterthought. So we're left with a puff piece about both Spreedly and Angelist but nothing really actionable for the average HN user.

Humblebragging about the accomplishment is fine, but don't coat it in a "How" type article, especially one with a sub-title of "A MUST READ FOR STARTUPS OUTSIDE THE VALLEY". It's not. "Angelist-featured firm raises 300K in 10 days" or "Spreedly closes 300K round through Angelist" would be much more accurate, and doesn't give the average user a false impression of how building a business or raising capital is done.

[beat]

Yeah, there was a bit of "Lose 20 pounds and raise $300k on Angellist using this weird old trick" to the article. :( Reading through, it boils down to good product, fashionable market space, and some timing luck. Great for them, and I'm happy to see Angellist trying to prove that they can get funding for those of us who aren't in Silicon Valley or NYC, but I didn't feel this was very helpful for me - and I should be the target market here! (Early stage startup, outside Silicon Valley, somewhat fashionable space)