“it wasn't one of those things we didn't have to meet any milestones... it was just like hey I need this much cuz we have a lot of assumptions that we have to go and test and we don't know”

Raise only what the next milestone needs

Nomorobo raised just $2.25M total across 10 years, each tranche sized only to reach the next specific milestone rather than to maximize runway. This preserved ownership, avoided VC pressure to scale prematurely, and kept the team accountable to actual progress rather than capital deployment. Slow-rolling raises is a deliberate ownership strategy, not a failure to raise more.