Nostalgia for the 2010s has quietly crept into the startup community, making founders miss the pioneering spirit, the fun and freedom of building indie projects, and the less intense competition back in the day. This isn’t about turning back the clock; the industry has matured significantly since 2010.
But if we were to re-enter the 2010s, how far back would we really need to roll? Let’s explore this topic from the perspective of founder-investor relationships and analyse how fundraising requirements for startups have evolved over the past 15 years. This will help us understand whether the founders’ nostalgia is purely sentimental, or if there’s something important we’re all overlooking.
Back in 2010
In 2010, the startup industry was recovering fast from the Great Recession of 2008, as the successes of Facebook, Google, and Amazon showed investors that tech businesses would thrive even in economic uncertainty. VCs acted cautiously, choosing lower-risk ventures to pour money into.
While Seed round deals were growing, A Series still dominated (Crunchbase); Pre-seed rounds did not exist as a phenomenon. Investing smaller checks just made no sense as startups were far more expensive to build due to the cost of cloud computing services and the necessity of custom-coded solutions. By the time a startup had gathered the necessary sum with small checks, the cap table would have been irrevocably broken.
Still, for the tech industry, 2010 was a landmark year: Instagram and Pinterest emerged as newborn startups, Uber received its very first ride request, and one of the most prominent VCs, A16Z, celebrated its first anniversary.
It was the dawn of the social media era, which reshaped user acquisition strategies for startups and inspired new growth and promotion strategies. Suddenly, companies could connect directly with their customers, without massive marketing budgets.
Around this time, Eric Ries introduced his “Lean Startup” methodology, a new framework for startup success, based on rapid prototyping, early user feedback, and small, fast iterations rather than heavy upfront investments, which eventually led to the concept of MVP.
Being a successful startup in 2010
By 2010, the startup philosophy had made a tectonic shift. The previous followers of the product-first approach, who focused on delivering a product customers love, then creating distribution channels, and eventually starting to sell, according to the then-popular blog Venture Hacks, were heavily influenced by the “lean startup” methodology.
As a result, the industry transferred to the “test, learn, and iterate fast” model, which put product-market fit at the forefront. One investor made a post in his blog from 2010, with fundraising advice:
- Understand how startups are valued
- Identify your specific risks
- Look for quick ways to mitigate risks before fundraising
- Either raise enough cash to match the milestones
- Or match your milestones to the available cash
- Validate your milestone/valuation targets with investors
- Focus all energies on reaching those milestones
- Avoid a down round at all costs
Does this advice apply to early-stage startups fifteen years later?
Back to 2025
Now it’s 2025, the first AI-powered investor writes a $100,000 check to a startup founder. Instagram, Pinterest, Snapchat, and Uber have become “startup legends” with multibillion-dollar valuations, and A16Z is now one of the world’s major venture capital funds. What used to be an informal and angel-driven round is now institutionalized, known as Pre-seed investments. A growing number of top-tier VC firms have aggressively expanded into seed investing. a16z, NEA, and Khosla Ventures now participate in rounds that were once the domain of angels and micro-funds (Crunchbase).
Building startups has become more affordable, unless it’s a complex AI or deep-tech solution, so less funding is necessary to start. At the same time, the competition has become much more intense, so major venture firms started jumping in earlier than ever. Seed funding is now perceived as the
What VC industry has definitely evolved, but has it changed at its core since 2010?
How the Fundraising Process Evolved
As an investor who works a lot with early-stage startup founders through Pre-Seed to Succeed, I can admit that even 15 years afterward, these points still sound fresh and relevant.
The transactional side evolved quite a bit. The introduction of the SAFE in 2013 simplified early-stage investing, making it faster and cheaper to close deals once an investor is convinced.
While surface-level dynamics have shifted, the fundamental rules of startup investing remain consistent. First-time founders today may mistakenly believe that innovation is harder than it was in 2010, when the market seemed young and investors more agreeable.
However, as we see, the core principles that drive successful fundraising haven’t altered, with risk management, traction, and scaling remaining the cornerstones of successful fundraising.
The basics remain unchanged:
- Focus on reaching the milestones and building traction
- Target the right-fit investors
- Using metrics together with storytelling to validate your idea with investors.
As a hello from 2010, the lean startup approach – fast, customer-driven iterations, not bloated corporate thinking – is experiencing a revival among serious founders today.
Conclusion
While the startup scene has evolved since 2010, the fundamentals of founder-investor relationships remain unchanged. Risk management, gaining traction, and milestone-driven growth are still the pillars of successful fundraising.
In a way, 2010s nostalgia offers today’s founders not a roadmap to the past, but a chance to re-embrace timeless startup truths with fresh energy. The game is the same, but how you play it and how you connect to its original spirit is where the real opportunity lies.
