The downside of bootstrapping is that it takes longer (as covered in PG's various "money" essays). Money isn't the only currency, time is another, and what VCs

The downside of bootstrapping is that it takes longer (as covered in PG's various "money" essays). Money isn't the only currency, time is another, and what VCs REALLY offer is a change to speed up time to market and profitability, which is important when you really only have 40-60 productive years and taking funding gives you the opportunity to double the number of shots you get in that time. I think about this every minute we're spending on client stuff instead of our main product. Still not worth the loss of independence and control, for me, but I can see the attraction. No more hesitation before buying servers, hiring the people I would love to but can't afford at the moment, no time wasted in selling B2B services, a real physical office, a secretary to do the endless admin work...