I'm guessing you know this, but for those new to the terms: what this post describes as the "VC route" and the "bootstrap route" are usually referred to as "growth businesses" and "lifestyle businesses" (i.e. pays for the lifestyle of the founders).
As a big believer in the need for syndicated worker's coops, I think this basic distinction is a pretty great radicalization tool against the current system ;)
But the percentage we're really interested in is "what percentage of tech based startups are VC vs. bootstrapped." Especially in, say, the Bay Area. I don't know what that figure is, but I'd like to know.
Not common in Silicon Valley, but much more common in the rest of the country.
There’s an archetype for bootstrapped tech businesses:
- highly vertical specific
- couple hundred million TAM
- founder started the business in their 30s and is now in their 40s
Stepping outside of the VC startup bubble, we see small self-funded businesses are the norm. It's the neighborhood businesses all around us.
82% of all US business have <10 employees https://forstarters.substack.com/p/for-starters-10-the-three...
99.976% of new businesses don’t raise venture capital. https://forstarters.substack.com/p/for-starters-32-start-wit...