When I first started getting attention from VCs and the media as a young founder, it felt like winning the lottery. Suddenly, everyone wanted to hear my story, investors were reaching out, and big opportunities seemed just around the corner. But it was all noise.

The startup world loves a good story. Young founders from top schools make for easy headlines. The more you fit the mold, the more attention you get. It feels like progress, but it’s not. It’s a distraction. The hype can pull you away from what actually matters: building.

The Culture of VC and Media Attention

Startups run on visibility. Press, pitch competitions, and investor interest create the illusion of momentum. Raising money becomes the goal instead of solving a real problem or building something users love.

For young founders, especially one's coming from top 20 universities, this is even worse. Investors chase early-stage deals, sometimes before a founder even has a working product. The idea of raising millions straight out of college is seductive, but misleading.

When fundraising and media attention become the focus, execution suffers. Startups optimize for looking good instead of actually working. Founders get caught in a cycle of meetings, panels, and tweets, while their product sits untouched. This leads to burnout, bad decisions, and ultimately, failure.

The Impact of the Trap

I fell into this trap with my first startup, Chatterbox. It got immediate attention after I used Venmo to message investors and celebrities. That landed me a TechCrunch article and media buzz. Suddenly, my inbox exploded with investors, athletes, and random people wanting in.

I spoke with over 100 potential investors before even building a product. It delayed our launch, killed our focus, and kept us in endless conversations instead of working. By the time the hype faded, we had lost critical time.

When we finally launched, we went viral again. We pulled off a ridiculous stunt, sending mimes all over the UCLA campus (a story for another time). It worked. Thousands of users signed up overnight. But once again, the attention became the focus. Instead of iterating on the product, we were managing the chaos.

The result? Users signed up, opened the app a few times, and never came back. We built something nobody needed. That’s the founder trap nobody warns you about. Hype is meaningless without retention.

Lessons for Founders

Forget fundraising. Forget media. Focus on building. Talk to users. Solve a real problem. Make something people actually want.

If you do that, the right kind of attention will come naturally. Not the hype cycle. Not empty buzz. But real, sustainable growth.

Never chase the noise. Get lost in your problem. Build something so good it feels like art. The rest will take care of itself.