i wouldn't ever take investment money without personally benefitting from it. after working my ass off for 6+ years, the thought of giving a portion of my comp

i wouldn't ever take investment money without personally benefitting from it. after working my ass off for 6+ years, the thought of giving a portion of my company away without money in pocket seems patently absurd. like, a total non-starter. nope. i would laugh in the face of anyone who offered. anyone who tells you otherwise is probably trying to fool you -- that happens a lot when you own a business. if i were a vc, i'd also want my entrepreneurs to take some money so they can focus on more important things. the executive team of a funded company with real employees and real expectations of not pissing away a small fortune and many careers should not be worried about personal money at all. they should have enough disposable income to get all their personal luxury crap like laundry service and car rides, fancy gym memberships and whatnot taken care of. supporting a family? then it's even more important because it relieves the stress of multiple people which would have been the executives' to bear. plus, a pissed off founder that got ejected from their own company after years of work and no compensation..... not a recipe for good things. in fact it's a recipe for very, very bad things.