Holden Bruce

Co-Founder & CTO @raisi_ai | Forbes Technology Council

Building systems that eliminate feedback latency in fundraising

[Holden Bruce @holdbru]

Fundraising isn't a storytelling problem. It’s actually a systems engineering problem.

Most of the friction comes from feedback latency – founders don't know why they're failing until it's too late to pivot.

I broke down why tight feedback loops are the only way to survive the raise in my first @Forbes piece:

https://t.co/9wZmG7OwRt
@ForbesTechCncl

[Holden Bruce @holdbru]

crazy times to be building

my new @Forbes article was just published and talks about the founder's feeling of trying to keep up with the accelerating pace of change in the AI era https://t.co/oMyUfTggI1 @ForbesTechCncl

[Holden Bruce @holdbru]

If your inbox is empty, you’re either a unicorn or you’re invisible...

Between those two options, statistically, you’re invisible.

[Holden Bruce @holdbru]

Founders often spend years trying to make everyone happy. I definitely did.

But I learned to stop optimizing for happiness and start optimizing for indispensability.

Happy customers are nice. Customers who complain but can’t live without you are what build $100M+ companies.

[Holden Bruce @holdbru]

@bolcoto 💪🙌

[Holden Bruce @holdbru]

Raisi is at an interesting inflection point

We've been super successful with our current line of business, doubling revenue quarter over quarter

Now we're building something cheaper, self-service, easier to use, and more powerful

I'll be posting more (vids?) about this soon

[Holden Bruce @holdbru]

How to debug a complaint:
1. Did they churn? (bad)
2. Did they stay and keep using the broken feature? (good)

Escalation is a sign of dependency, so a customer who yells (but stays on) is a customer who is still invested in your success.

Figure out how to delight them asap.

[Holden Bruce @holdbru]

The product & dev team at @raisi_ai optimizes for high-value friction, not zero noise

It sucks when customers are upset but it's also a signal that you're on the right track and need to do better

[Holden Bruce @holdbru]

Feedback volume doesn’t correlate with quality. It correlates with dependency.

If a user takes 10 minutes to write an angry ticket about a UI bug, they aren't just unhappy – they are telling you that your product is critical to their workflow and the friction is costing them.

[Holden Bruce @holdbru]

@heyblake https://t.co/M5f6fOa1LF

[Holden Bruce @holdbru]

@KaiXCreator Hi! I’m building the future of fundraising - helping provide access to capital that used to require a warm intro, giving every founder a seat at the table regardless of their network https://t.co/M5f6fOa1LF

[Holden Bruce @holdbru]

@mchulet We help provide founders access to capital that used to require a warm intro, giving every founder a seat at the table regardless of their network https://t.co/M5f6fOa1LF

[Holden Bruce @holdbru]

@kacieahmed We’re helping democratize fundraising, giving founders without warm intros or connections access to capital normally reserved to the ultra-connected https://t.co/M5f6fOa1LF

[Holden Bruce @holdbru]

Phase 1: Indifference. Customers don't complain because they don't rely on you – silence isn't satisfaction, it's a lack of usage. This is the most dangerous stage.

Phase 2: Frustrated Engagement. The noisy middle, when users see the potential but feel the rough edges. Customers complain because they want it to work. Most founders quit here, right before they win.

Phase 3: Quiet Satisfaction. The product just works. Support tickets drop, not because they stopped caring, but because the job is done and the system really works for the customers.

Don’t fear the noise of Phase 2. Fear the silence of Phase 1.

[Holden Bruce @holdbru]

There are 3 phases of the customer feedback loop.

Most startups fail to tell the difference between "Quiet Satisfaction" and the deadly "Indifference" phases.

If you misread which one you’re in, you’ll drive yourself into a grave. 🧵

[Holden Bruce @holdbru]

@bolcoto my man!

[Holden Bruce @holdbru]

@iamfra5er not all money is good money

[Holden Bruce @holdbru]

Most founders misinterpret customer silence as success. It’s usually apathy.

In my second @Forbes piece, I break down why your loudest, most frustrated users are actually your strongest signal of product-market fit.

If they’re complaining but they won’t leave, you’ve hit a nerve.

https://t.co/yNuvEEJrMs @ForbesTechCncl @raisi_ai

[Holden Bruce @holdbru]

@bolcoto launch looks awesome 💪

[Holden Bruce @holdbru]

Hot take from our data: AI founders aren't getting more investor attention per company than anyone else. They just make up more of the market.

The sectors with the best signal-per-founder ratio in Q1 2026? Gaming. HR Tech. Cybersecurity.

Nobody's talking about these as "hot" sectors but they're crushing.

[Holden Bruce @holdbru]

@bolcoto I ❤️ losing money, agentically. Doing it myself takes way too much time