Because certain businesses bleed oceans of cash before they turn a profit. That can be a sound investment because when they do turn a profit, it's torrential.

Because certain businesses bleed oceans of cash before they turn a profit. That can be a sound investment because when they do turn a profit, it's torrential. Take Facebook. How could anyone possibly bootstrap a social network circa-2006? You have no eyeballs, so you can't advertise (if the Social Network is anything to go by, they tried that unsuccessfully). You have no product, so you can't sell anything directly. At best, you could do software consulting work - but then someone who is well-funded overtakes you easily, and given the "winner takes all" nature of social networks, you're dead on the vine. Likewise, even when they do take VC, the next stage isn't necessarily "profit". If you can spend $1 today to generate $1.50 in revenue tomorrow, versus spending $1 today to (maybe) generate $15 in 5 years' time, VCs will prefer the latter. For all intents and purposes, VC-funded startups are in an different industry from your average IndieHackers project. The former are racing the VC clock, so a lot of their time is spent playing the valuation game. The latter has the luxury of focusing on customers and small, sustainable growth. But that also means you're unlikely to see the next search engine or social network on IndieHackers.