Indeed, the catch-22 is surviving and moving forward as a company when there are potentially little sources of revenue; will the service or product exist at all

Indeed, the catch-22 is surviving and moving forward as a company when there are potentially little sources of revenue; will the service or product exist at all without VC funding? I don't personally love the idea of feeding into the VC ecosystem either, it all depends on your position and ability to leverage though as to whether it will be a more positive situation or not.