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Yeah, that's how I've always expected the VC-Backed-Startup world to work. It's fascinating to me to watch people going into that, expecting it to work out for

Yeah, that's how I've always expected the VC-Backed-Startup world to work. It's fascinating to me to watch people going into that, expecting it to work out for them. It's like watching somebody take up smoking. You can watch the history of people doing this activity as far back as you like, and just hardly ever come up with an outcome that seems to make your life genuinely better. But with lots of examples of it making your life worse. That's not to say I'm against starting a Business though. I've been into bootstrapping SaaS products for the last dozen-odd years, and that absolutely has made my life better in lots of ways, including those on your list of Reasons To Start A Company. The big one for me is Free Time. If you stay small, things work out really nicely. Every dollar past breakeven adds to your personal salary. No dividing by 2 or 3 or 10, so a little $10k MRR niche is all you need to be set for life. That's the kind of niche that can be serviced with a few hours of support mails a week (once the thing is built, of course), which means a lot more freedom to go do whatever else you want.

eloff 6y ago
I'm surprised this isn't talked about more. Trading your job for a VC-backed startup is just changing one master for another, with a more uncertain outcome and better upside. I came to the conclusion I'd much rather own 100% of something small than 10% of a Unicorn. So I changed to part-time work to cover the bills and I'm bootstrapping. I think if I'm ever successful enough to need an HR department, I'll sell the business and move onto the next thing. I don't ever want to spend less than 50% of my day knee-deep in the actual code.
- hef19898 6y ago
  The biggest reason that so pushes me away from VC funding. One Pre-Seed fund reached out, so, and I will most likely pitch the guys. Because VC money allows you to speed things up in ways you can't by relying on free cash flow. That being said, I'd still prefer the latter becaus I don't want another boss (or multiple ones). Gess it depends on the conditions, so. And good point about the HR-department moment, that's the thing I fear the most in getting to many customers!
  - eloff 6y ago
    Pre-seed? So that's what maybe $10-$30K investment? Save yourself the trouble and do some contract work for 1-3 months, you can make the same amount with no strings attached.
    - hef19898 6y ago
      Then after seed, the 30k are already there. More like 100 - 150k. Would speed things up, but solvable without investors as well. We'll see...
sgt-serverless 6y ago
Agree on this times 10! I am on my second "lifestyle" business, not raising money, and just getting the MRR up to pay for everything. I have done the whole VC game (raised about $20 million) and I thought it was going to be much more fun than it was. Turns out, just doing it the "boring" way works.

eloff 6y ago

I'm surprised this isn't talked about more. Trading your job for a VC-backed startup is just changing one master for another, with a more uncertain outcome and better upside. I came to the conclusion I'd much rather own 100% of something small than 10% of a Unicorn. So I changed to part-time work to cover the bills and I'm bootstrapping. I think if I'm ever successful enough to need an HR department, I'll sell the business and move onto the next thing. I don't ever want to spend less than 50% of my day knee-deep in the actual code.

hef19898 6y ago
The biggest reason that so pushes me away from VC funding. One Pre-Seed fund reached out, so, and I will most likely pitch the guys. Because VC money allows you to speed things up in ways you can't by relying on free cash flow. That being said, I'd still prefer the latter becaus I don't want another boss (or multiple ones). Gess it depends on the conditions, so. And good point about the HR-department moment, that's the thing I fear the most in getting to many customers!
- eloff 6y ago
  Pre-seed? So that's what maybe $10-$30K investment? Save yourself the trouble and do some contract work for 1-3 months, you can make the same amount with no strings attached.
  - hef19898 6y ago
    Then after seed, the 30k are already there. More like 100 - 150k. Would speed things up, but solvable without investors as well. We'll see...

sgt-serverless 6y ago

Agree on this times 10! I am on my second "lifestyle" business, not raising money, and just getting the MRR up to pay for everything. I have done the whole VC game (raised about $20 million) and I thought it was going to be much more fun than it was. Turns out, just doing it the "boring" way works.