I think there is a middle ground. I see that startups have 3 phases: 1. The first phase is figuring our scalable business model. That includes product, custome

I think there is a middle ground. I see that startups have 3 phases: 1. The first phase is figuring our scalable business model. That includes product, customer acquisition, etc. For this phase the best is that you are bootstrapped or having just small investment. At the end of this phase, you should be profitable or your natural/viral growth should be like Facebook in early days. 2. The second phase is growth. For this phase, you might need VC money since during growth profit might not be enough. Or you might decide that this is "lifestyle" business. 3. The third phase is optimization. Now, the problem with some startups is that they jump onto phase 2 too early. And I have feeling that some SV startups (not all - but one pumped via techrunch and similar) jump to second phase too early. I think it is ok if phase one is extended by 6 months or even one year - that is just a rounding error if you are going to be big. No need to rush.