POC face barriers to funding

So first of all, let me say that I totally feel your pain. I've seen situations where a white dude with almost no traction raised $3mm, while I was being offered $500k at some crap valuation (which I never took, btw).First of all: Set up meetings with 3-5 VC investors. Ask a friend with access to Pitchbook to run a screen for you to make sure they are the kind of investors who actually invest in the size of round you want. It's disappointing and kind of pointless to have meetings and realize later that the largest check the investor would considering writing would be only $25k, and who even cares about the opinions of investors of that size.Once you get the meetings (not easy IME), genuinely ask for the $3mm (or whatever it is). Listen for what their feedback is, and make them get specific on why they are saying no and what type of traction they are talking about wanting to see — is it a specific number of customers? Is it a distribution agreement? Is it users? Is it revenue?Then observe if there is a consensus. If at least 3 people say that you need the exact same metric, that's a positive and you can take the feedback seriously. Whereas if they all give you totally different bullshit answers, you should ignore everything they all said.I've also found that the VC funds who brag about investing in founders who are POC or female often have THE MOST STRINGENT criteria for investing. It's like they want to find that black founder who was secretly generating $1mm in annual revenues while living under a rock and just didn't have any connections to raise.Secondly: If it's possible, I'd also suggest trying to suck it up and befriend some of the white male founders who are raising these huge rounds. Most of the men I've talked to like this are humble and complete open books about their fundraising strategies and usually admit that there is a lot of luck going into it. I've often heard that there was only one acceptable term sheet and they had to talk to over 100 investors with zero interest before finding that investor. IMO, part of the privilege that white male founders have is even being able to get 100 meetings (and the female founders I've seen who had success raising large rounds often went to Harvard or had some kind of connections that also enabled them to get the meetings to make it a "numbers game").Finally, do you know what you would do if you had access to unlimited money? Personally I always find it helpful to think of things that way and then figure out if there is a mini-version of doing the things I would do with a larger budget.Apologies that this doesn't give any real answers, because I know as a founder you probably hear totally unhelpful advice 24/7. I'd be curious to hear where you are at and if you've already received any feedback about traction from prospective investors, as well as whether or not you agree with it.