Imagine starting a small company, and having it grow at a slower, but sustainable pace. The idea you develop makes sense, and so you start being noticed. You ar

Imagine starting a small company, and having it grow at a slower, but sustainable pace. The idea you develop makes sense, and so you start being noticed. You are offered funding opportunities to grow faster. Now you're facing a choice: either take the money, and start answering to VCs, or don't take the money, and face the risk that someone copies your idea, gets lavish funding and buries you by, litterally, selling at a huge loss for years. The scenario of VC-funded companies doing price-dumping for years isn't outlandish, it's what Uber did for instance. To answer your question, what's supposed to replace the VC model is the people that took the second option and didn't make it, and those that would have, had it been a viable option. More sustainable companies that take the time to build a real product that they grow over time with their customers' money. And for companies that need heavy funding to start, well, they can still secure loans, find industrial partners, get grants, etc. Many companies started like that and do fine to this day.