From my experience (both raising and speaking with VCs), it is less about hitting a magic MRR number and more about showing a pattern of growth and evidence that you have found some level of repeatability. $5k MRR is a common early milestone and can get you in the door for conversations, but a consistent 10 percent MoM growth and a clear understanding of your ideal customer and sales pipeline will usually move things forward faster. Strong retention and engagement metrics (think user stickiness, low churn, expansion revenue) also carry major weight, especially if you are still building up your raw top line numbers.

I have seen other founders start real dialogues once they could demonstrate repeatable channels for adding users plus a functioning onboarding and feedback loop. Being able to point to some form of process around lead generation and successful handoffs on a small scale also shows you know how to scale, which VCs love to see. Having an organized pipeline and examples of deliberate iterations on your sales and messaging are extremely helpful in these conversations.

While founder led sales can be powerful early on, I found it helpful to quickly test ways to automate or delegate that motion. As I am working on https://salespire.io/, an AI powered outbound platform, we are building a waiting list for early users interested in hands off lead gen so you can keep iterating on the product without the sales drain. Happy to share what has worked for us if you want to connect.