Today, with everything available it's become easy for small companies to bootstrap their way through all stages of growth without any conventional investment.
Can you name a large startup that hasn't taken investment? Oculus, maybe.
Begin with personal savings and maxing out credit cards to allow a tiny handful of founders to build an MVP that gains credibility and perhaps even generates some revenue.
That's incredibly risky. If it doesn't work, then you won't be able to make another attempt for years while you try to recover. The value of VC investment is that it insulates you from those risks. I've seen firsthand just how ravenous the effects can be when the "avoid investment" philosophy is taken to its extreme. So the question becomes, why not take VC investment from VCs who aren't interested in company control?
Can you name a large startup that hasn't taken investment? Oculus, maybe.
Begin with personal savings and maxing out credit cards to allow a tiny handful of founders to build an MVP that gains credibility and perhaps even generates some revenue.
That's incredibly risky. If it doesn't work, then you won't be able to make another attempt for years while you try to recover. The value of VC investment is that it insulates you from those risks. I've seen firsthand just how ravenous the effects can be when the "avoid investment" philosophy is taken to its extreme. So the question becomes, why not take VC investment from VCs who aren't interested in company control?