Either path can be right for different people. And the wrong decision can be horrible. You can always take VC later, but you can’t un-take it. So you should be

Either path can be right for different people. And the wrong decision can be horrible. You can always take VC later, but you can’t un-take it. So you should be pretty sure that you want to spend the next 10 years of your life shooting for a billion dollar company. Otherwise, stay the course. Taking seed funding (such as from YC) is not as big a risk as VC funding. Seed-funded companies often don’t go on to take VC, and while seed funders will encourage you to go for the big time, they won’t have the board fire you from your own company like a VC would if they think you’re under-delivering.