The “Bleed For This” Framework Every Founder Should Use Before Raising VC

I raised $4.2M and lived through the consequences of what that actually means.

Taking venture capital is an all-or-nothing ordeal for founders.

Everyone expects you to fail.

But what no one tells you is this:

If you fail, no one cares why and you won’t have a shred of credibility left.

When I closed my seed round in November 2021, I didn’t grasp this at all.
About a year later in Dec 2022, when I didn’t have a viable business, it hit me.

For the first time in my entrepreneurial career, I understood the real cost of VC:

If you don’t deliver a return, your reputation resets with a 🚩 red flag.

If I had understood that up front, I wouldn’t have raised a dollar until I had true conviction that I was betting my reputation on something worth bleeding for.

Here’s the framework I use now to evaluate exactly that. I wish I had this in 2021.

The 3 layer litmus test every founder should run before taking outside capital:

1️⃣ Does the bet itself make sense?
2️⃣ Are YOU the right founder to take it now?
3️⃣ Is it worth signing your name in blood?

Let’s go through them.

The 5-Year Arc: My Age + Altitude + Bet

This is the exact breakdown of the eras my company went through. Same cap table, same investors, same founder. The only thing that changed each time was my altitude.

(My “altitude” I mean where I fell in my talent leveling framework that determines what level a person can operate at when the ground keeps on moving underneath them)

Disclosure Facts is the first time the answer is yes across all three columns.

Now here’s why:

1. Does the Disclosure Facts bet itself make sense?

Yes because the problem is structural, universal, and inevitable.

The bet is not:

• “Ad transparency is important”

• “Creators need better tools”

• “Regulators like standardization”

The bet is:

And Disclosure Facts is the only entity building:

• a unified standard

• a verification layer

• a consumer-facing signal

• a compliance workflow

• a trust protocol

• a universally applicable label

Nothing else in the landscape is doing this system-first.

This bet is in the same lineage as:

• SSL

• ADA

• SOC2

• privacy disclosures

• dark-pattern rules

This is an inevitable bet.

 ✅ So yes, the bet itself makes sense.

2. Is KAEYA the right founder to take this bet now?

This is the more important part.

I was not the founder capable of taking this bet in 2021, 2022, or 2023.

I didn’t have:

• altitude

• nuanced thinking

• systems thinking

• regulatory clarity

• identity coherence

• emotional regulation

Now I do.

A Nutrition Facts–style regulatory-adjacent standard requires:

• L4 systems altitude

• L5 narrative altitude

• the ability to hold ambiguity for years

• the ability to think and operate like regulators + creators + brands + consumers

• the credibility to converge the ecosystem onto one standard

I didn’t even know what this was in my 20’s.
I recognized the pattern at 30.
I developed the altitude at 31.
I embodied it at 32.

 ✅ So yes, I am now the right founder for this bet.

3. Is Disclosure Facts worth signing my name in blood for?

Here’s the real question:

“Is the upside worth the asymmetric sacrifice?”

Let’s evaluate it plainly.

Founder Cost (the bleed)

Years of invisible work. High level execution with no applause, no shortcuts, no certainty, and no guarantee anyone will care until suddenly they do.

👉 5+ years of being excellent with zero external validation.

That’s the price.

Founder Payoff (the prize)

If the standard lands, we don’t just build a company. We become the default.
The industry conforms to us. Regulators anchor to us.
The market locks into our system for decades.

👉 We become a protocol the entire creator advertising industry runs on.

That’s the prize.

 ✅ The answer: Yes…but only now.

I needed:

• the altitude regression

• the chaos

• the October 2023 cutoff

• the identity deconstruction

• the 24 months of rebuilding

• the ChatGPT catalyzed altitude climb

• the regulatory tailwinds

• the ad law ecosystem’s embrace

THIS version of me is a founder who can and should sign her name in blood.

So Is the Disclosure Facts bet worth it?

If DF becomes the universal ad transparency standard:

👉 It’s a once-in-a-generation company.
👉 It becomes the Nutrition Facts of a $300B industry.
👉 It becomes a compliance backbone for the industry.
👉 It creates a public good that regulators, lawyers, creators, and consumers all rely on.

 ✅ Yes, this is absolutely the bet I am willing to bleed for.

And it took me 10 years of work to earn the clarity to say yes.

Most people discover their answer is no by day 90.
A few find a better idea.
Almost everyone realizes they don’t actually want to do the kind of work a company requires.

But if you’re the rare person who makes it through with a real yes?

Then you’ve earned the right to build.
Godspeed.

Kaeya