The term “VC” has been colloquially generalised to the point of uselessness. I’ve seen straight-faced professionals use it to describe angels, growth investors in public companies and lenders.
Broad rule of thumb in finance is to understand how the people giving you money make money. Traditional VC is high-risk / high-reward. If that’s not your strategy, don’t take VC. OP seems to be describing small businesses. These frequently do need to raise capital to get going, and they do it through banks and the SBA. (That market entirely dwarfs traditional VC.)
Broad rule of thumb in finance is to understand how the people giving you money make money. Traditional VC is high-risk / high-reward. If that’s not your strategy, don’t take VC. OP seems to be describing small businesses. These frequently do need to raise capital to get going, and they do it through banks and the SBA. (That market entirely dwarfs traditional VC.)