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What's wrong with bootstrapping by consulting?
http://www.paulgraham.com/fundraising.html says: "One VC who read this essay wrote: "We try to avoid companies that got bootstrapped with consulting. It creates very bad behaviors/instincts that are hard to erase from a company's culture.""
If you are a founder or VC, do you agree with this? If so, I understand why you might not want to invest in a company whose CURRENT business model is consulting, but what particular "bad behaviors" are left in the culture of a company which USED TO bootstrap by consulting?
- chadcmulligan 10y agoMy (somewhat cynical) view on this would be - if you consult you don't need VC money, so a VC would say it's bad :-).
- genbit 10y agoDone that. First, I think it's great expirience for a founder in terms of understanding and learning how to run business. Especially if you manage to grow to have consulting company with employees. For me main challenge was Focus. Hard to focus team on developing your own product, while also doing consulting. Bad behaviors: - lack of focus - different cash management - easy to avoid responsibility when 3rd party is involved - different mindset for employees, bootstrapping startup vs consulting for someone else I would suggest a founder to first try a different ways to bootstrap/find funds for your startup. If not, then do consulting, save some money, then use this money to work only on startup/idea.