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We should all learn and accept that VC funding and bootstrapping are not the only two options. Of course VC is bad for some founders and business models. That d

We should all learn and accept that VC funding and bootstrapping are not the only two options. Of course VC is bad for some founders and business models. That does not make it bad in general.

abrichr 6y ago
What are the other options?
- langitbiru 6y ago
  ICO, crowdfunding, loans, patronage, government's backing, etc.
  - sushshshsh 6y ago
    >government's backing >ICO For those of us who aren't Musk, Thiel, or Vitalik, there's only loans and patronage and crowdfunding then :)
    - j45 6y ago
      Canada has many programs for small startups just beginning.
    - joefourier 6y ago
      Here in the EU, government funding is available and used by businesses of all sizes, although you do have to navigate the bureaucracy and be able to handle the paperwork. Do you not have something equivalent in America?
    - jonwachob91 6y ago
      >>government's backing >For those of us who aren't Musk, Thiel, or Vitalik, there's only loans and patronage and crowdfunding then :) The US SBIR program provides up to $1.7MM per project over 2.5 years to small businesses or startups. It's a pain in the ass process that takes forever, but hundreds of start ups get funded this way every year, and it costs literally nothing to apply other than you time. sbir.gov
      - sushshshsh 6y ago
        Kindly find me one startup that has gone on to have a successful exit that has publicly stated "We took funding from US SBIR and it really made a difference" Additionally by government's backing, I didn't mean to say loans, I meant to imply "the government are our customers"
        spaetzleesser 6y ago
        “Kindly find me one startup that has gone on to have a successful exit that has publicly stated "We took funding from US SBIR and it really made a difference"“ There are a lot of them in the DC area. You just don’t hear much about them.
        Melting_Harps 6y ago
        > There are a lot of them in the DC area. You just don’t hear much about them. For those of us entirely and woefully ignorant on where to start, could you provide a few names? I'm entirely apprehensive of this model on principal after having to deal with a project that relied mainly on Departmnt of Ag grants that stifled me in every step despite making them profitable for the first time in its 8 year history. But the truth is that as a former bootstrapping founder I hope funding is actually an issue that UBI can mitigate. The idea of not having to rely on government programs, VC, or banks but rather a system that relies entirely on private funding from members of your family, friends and community with an incentive structure is something that interests me a great deal. One of the more creative things I saw when I worked in Kitchens was this model where the Mexican employees would group their paychecks and give it to one member of the group of 5-7 workers/employees and it would allow them to have substantially more money than their single paycheck to take care of things that they would otherwise would need predatory payday loans for or simply have to do without until they could save enough to do so. And this would continue until every member of the group was served and it would start again, its an interesting system but it ultimately relies on Trust that I think could and should be done away with given that the technology exists to do so. That's not to say Trust isn't a valuable commodity, but is entirely unnecessary concern if well designed. Remittances are another meaningful business model that I think are not only under-served but attract the worst people to them in hopes of keeping people in desperate situations to retain their demographic.
    - pkaye 6y ago
      There is always asking your rich parents for money. :)
- satvikpendem 6y ago
  Revenue sharing venture capital for small valuations ~tens of millions. TinySeed, Earnest Capital, etc.
FabHK 6y ago
The point is not that VCs are a bad funding option for founders and business models (compared to other funding options). The point is that VCs are bad for the world by funding things that do not create long term value, so they're effectively destroying and misallocating wealth.

We should all learn and accept that VC funding and bootstrapping are not the only two options. Of course VC is bad for some founders and business models. That does not make it bad in general.

abrichr 6y ago

What are the other options?

langitbiru 6y ago
ICO, crowdfunding, loans, patronage, government's backing, etc.
- sushshshsh 6y ago
  >government's backing >ICO For those of us who aren't Musk, Thiel, or Vitalik, there's only loans and patronage and crowdfunding then :)
  - j45 6y ago
    Canada has many programs for small startups just beginning.
  - joefourier 6y ago
    Here in the EU, government funding is available and used by businesses of all sizes, although you do have to navigate the bureaucracy and be able to handle the paperwork. Do you not have something equivalent in America?
  - jonwachob91 6y ago
    >>government's backing >For those of us who aren't Musk, Thiel, or Vitalik, there's only loans and patronage and crowdfunding then :) The US SBIR program provides up to $1.7MM per project over 2.5 years to small businesses or startups. It's a pain in the ass process that takes forever, but hundreds of start ups get funded this way every year, and it costs literally nothing to apply other than you time. sbir.gov
    - sushshshsh 6y ago
      Kindly find me one startup that has gone on to have a successful exit that has publicly stated "We took funding from US SBIR and it really made a difference" Additionally by government's backing, I didn't mean to say loans, I meant to imply "the government are our customers"
      - spaetzleesser 6y ago
        “Kindly find me one startup that has gone on to have a successful exit that has publicly stated "We took funding from US SBIR and it really made a difference"“ There are a lot of them in the DC area. You just don’t hear much about them.
        Melting_Harps 6y ago
        > There are a lot of them in the DC area. You just don’t hear much about them. For those of us entirely and woefully ignorant on where to start, could you provide a few names? I'm entirely apprehensive of this model on principal after having to deal with a project that relied mainly on Departmnt of Ag grants that stifled me in every step despite making them profitable for the first time in its 8 year history. But the truth is that as a former bootstrapping founder I hope funding is actually an issue that UBI can mitigate. The idea of not having to rely on government programs, VC, or banks but rather a system that relies entirely on private funding from members of your family, friends and community with an incentive structure is something that interests me a great deal. One of the more creative things I saw when I worked in Kitchens was this model where the Mexican employees would group their paychecks and give it to one member of the group of 5-7 workers/employees and it would allow them to have substantially more money than their single paycheck to take care of things that they would otherwise would need predatory payday loans for or simply have to do without until they could save enough to do so. And this would continue until every member of the group was served and it would start again, its an interesting system but it ultimately relies on Trust that I think could and should be done away with given that the technology exists to do so. That's not to say Trust isn't a valuable commodity, but is entirely unnecessary concern if well designed. Remittances are another meaningful business model that I think are not only under-served but attract the worst people to them in hopes of keeping people in desperate situations to retain their demographic.
  - pkaye 6y ago
    There is always asking your rich parents for money. :)
satvikpendem 6y ago
Revenue sharing venture capital for small valuations ~tens of millions. TinySeed, Earnest Capital, etc.

FabHK 6y ago

The point is not that VCs are a bad funding option for founders and business models (compared to other funding options). The point is that VCs are bad for the world by funding things that do not create long term value, so they're effectively destroying and misallocating wealth.