But that might be because you can rent, for a surprisingly small amount of your company's ownership in the right circumstances, the advice and backing of near-b

But that might be because you can rent, for a surprisingly small amount of your company's ownership in the right circumstances, the advice and backing of near-billionaires who have, you know, a little bit of experience in that IPO thing. It's true beyond a doubt that if you bootstrapped a $100mm in revenue company that can profitably grow from reinvestment you don't need VC money, and in fact if you want to IPO, you can you do that without giving away any upside at all (until the IPO day that is, when the bankers get their cut). However, getting to that point might be easier with the aid of some wise and well connected folks. At least, that's the good part of SV.