>It would be a start just to find an industry where some participants are VC funded and some aren't, and then look at how they each fared. I think that might b

>It would be a start just to find an industry where some participants are VC funded and some aren't, and then look at how they each fared. I think that might be a skewed metric. This may be the first time I agree with DHH, but VC funding changes the definition of "fairing well". It all depends on how you want to define success. I personally know a lot of bootstraped companies who have achieved success simply by not having to worry about making enough money to cover this month's payroll. That is clearly not the case with a VC funded startup.