I’m at a point in life where gambling doesn’t appeal to me. I could take VC, earn a (temporary) steady salary, and then, having given up controlling interest in

I’m at a point in life where gambling doesn’t appeal to me. I could take VC, earn a (temporary) steady salary, and then, having given up controlling interest in my company, be at the back of the line for an exit while the VCs, who put no sweat equity into the company, get a huge payday. Or, I can bootstrap, have less stability, all the control to hire just who I need and when … and less stress. I’ve worked at two companies that took VC. In both cases, investors didn’t care about anything except whatever metric showed “growth” so they could exit larger than they entered - the tech didn’t matter, the team didn’t matter. Based on this sample size and so many stories from SV about how founders and employees are treated, I have a hard time seeing VCs as anything but leeches.