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Bootstrapping has an opportunity cost that a lot of people gloss over, wages you could have made at a BigCo for years. Even if you are "successful" you still co
by brianwawok 5y ago
Bootstrapping has an opportunity cost that a lot of people gloss over, wages you could have made at a BigCo for years. Even if you are "successful" you still could be millions in the hole vs working at FAANG.
Source: am a bootstrapper
- dannyw 5y agoThat's contextual. For example, as someone living outside the USA with no immigration pathways, I simply can't get a FAANG salary.
- brianwawok 5y agoVery true, so you would compare it to the <best job you could get>. But simply saying "It's such a bad idea to take VC money, just bootstrap" is too simple of a statement. Again, I say this as a bootstrapper.
- thebean11 5y agoSure, but they also will have a much more difficult time getting the type of VC money American startups get.
- Avalaxy 5y agoA bootstrapper doesn't need that.
- acdha 5y agoThis is true but I think there's also a question about the difference between VC as in huge amounts of money trying to build the next unicorn versus traditional business startup loan levels. I think a lot of startups would be better getting _some_ investment but with a target valuation in the millions rather than billions range. The founders can still do well in that range but they won't have hundreds of employees and expensive offices in NYC.
- brianwawok 5y agoRight, you can do this to some extent with midwest angel / VC. If you stay out of coastal VC, you can a bit more modest, but the trend for even midwest VC seems to be pushing for unicorns lately...
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- john_yaya 5y agoSeems like bootstrapping isn’t just about the money for many bootstrappers, perhaps including you. There’s a type of person who would much rather grind out $150K ARR at something they create and own than pull down $450K/yr at Netflix.