I did that at the beginning. Until I had enough cash to build and market product. But it was barely enough cash. Then big orders started hitting. Before I kn

I did that at the beginning. Until I had enough cash to build and market product. But it was barely enough cash. Then big orders started hitting. Before I knew it, we were at $3MM/y sales, growing about 33% yoy. And then we crashed. We needed more capital. Those who wanted to put money in via convertible notes demanded terms that would have killed the company's ability to raise capital going forward. Our lawyers told us that it appeared that the large company wanted to buy us on the cheap, and these terms enabled that. I've replayed that in my head many times. It was a crappy deal, and they weren't willing to budge. But I would have had a sort-of-exit had they exercised one of the convertible clauses, to basically demand payment in full if we couldn't raise more money. If someone tells you corporate VC is less slimy than the regular version, don't believe them. Different type of slimy, but still slimy.