I live in SF and pay myself about $25K a year. I'm self funded on about $150K cash (since 2010) and live very comfortably. I haven't taken VC money and I have no plans to.
My question is: why do people insist on playing this game the same broken way? Raise money, try to grow as quickly as possible to raise more money, getting massively diluted along the way, and hope that you sell or IPO at $1B+ or $19B or whatever valuation? It's a mug's game given that only a tiny, tiny, tiny fraction of people get there.
What's wrong with growing organically, crafting your product as you grow more slowly and taking less VC money and keeping more equity for yourself? You might make less money overall but you have more chance of actually making it if you have a real idea.
And why do you need that money again? Wouldn't you rather make a great product? Lots of morons have heaps of money, but how many have made great products? If you want big money and don't care about your product and are smart and hardworking, go work in finance, it's much a more reliable way to get rich.
It seems to me most people are taking long, long shot ideas and hoping for the very unlikely best and being some sort of hero.
Yes, this. Why is this all-or-nothing approach romanticised? There are untold thousands of bootstrapped companies slowly building their product without taking on any (or very little) outside funding and earning a decent living. It may not have the prospects of a huge payoff, but then again, you may have better chances of winning the lottery than winning a huge payoff.
My question is: why do people insist on playing this game the same broken way? Raise money, try to grow as quickly as possible to raise more money, getting massively diluted along the way, and hope that you sell or IPO at $1B+ or $19B or whatever valuation? It's a mug's game given that only a tiny, tiny, tiny fraction of people get there.
What's wrong with growing organically, crafting your product as you grow more slowly and taking less VC money and keeping more equity for yourself? You might make less money overall but you have more chance of actually making it if you have a real idea.
And why do you need that money again? Wouldn't you rather make a great product? Lots of morons have heaps of money, but how many have made great products? If you want big money and don't care about your product and are smart and hardworking, go work in finance, it's much a more reliable way to get rich.
It seems to me most people are taking long, long shot ideas and hoping for the very unlikely best and being some sort of hero.