Much has already been said about the somewhat unexpected success that is Yo, with a wide range of opinions on why it’s amazing or crap. I don’t really feel much either way for it as an app, it is fun but ultimately it mostly drains the already precious battery life of my phone. The real issue I have with it is the $1.2 million raised on the back of it.

I’m not trying to take anything away from the creators of Yo, good on them for all the users and press they’ve been getting, but I can’t help to feel a bit sad about what it raising all that money says about the tech startup industry.

What does raising capital mean? Do you get money for a good idea? Is it because of one or a group of strong and passionate founders? Is it because you have a plan for how to transform your wild hunch/seed of an idea/validated business plan into a multi-million dollar company?

Probably any and all of the above, but it would seem that it is the product is one of the fundamentals. A strong concept or opportunity coupled with a passionate and skilled founding team.

What sort of signal does Yo raising $1.2M send to the industry? That it’s OK to have an idea that’s not much beyond sort of fun? That every single idea out there, no matter how banal, deserves VC capital? That pretty much anything counts as an idea or a product? That we’re in a bubble? (What?! Sorry, I won’t use the B-word again…)

I have no trouble believing that the team behind Yo is capable, passionate, and smart, and as a fun app Yo does the trick. But I struggle to see how Yo is a product that can (or should) be taken any further. It is what it is, no need to pretend it’s anything more or less.

My fear is that the bar for what’s an acceptable level of quality is being lowered. Not every idea should be funded just based on it managing to capture people’s attention for a moment. The Build It And They Will Come attitude towards getting a stable business, revenues, and growth is OK, but there should at least be the seed of an idea beyond the here and now.

We’ve seen it before, money (lots of money) is invested every year in products with little or no distinguishing traits or apparent long(ish)-term idea of what they are. Maybe it’s because the founding team is good and experienced (as with Color) or maybe it is down to some sort of Spray And Pray investment approach from the investors.

Say what you will about the carousel of the VC world where investment can be more like gambling, but it comes with the territory where money makes money. $1M isn’t a lot of money in the grand scheme of investing and potentially bad investments are mostly the headache of the investor. Raising money is, and should be, hard. As a founder you should need to motivate why you and your product is worth time and money, and I think there is something to be said for the quality of the product concept as a fundamental part of any investment strategy.

We need more quality startups that deliver quality products and people that want to solve real problems and create real business. Founders should be challenged to create things that are valuable to people and the industry should hold each other to high standards. Raising money is a sign of validation, a signal on intent to the community, $1.2M might not be the biggest round ever raised but is a statement.