>Venture backed companies only have about a 1% chance of reaching a $1B valuation. [...] I’m sorry, but you aren’t the 1. You are the 99 and your startup isn’t going to become a unicorn. [...] Why play a game that has such terrible odds of winning?Because people have always liked to pursue things that interest them regardless of the odds.
(cue Han Solo's "Don't tell me the odds!")
Why do aspiring writers work on novels with long odds of it ever being a bestseller on NYTimes -- or even being published by a reputable publisher for that matter? Because, writing is what that person wants to do. Telling them it's a "waste of time" isn't going to change their mind if writing is what makes them happy.
Why does the high-school basketball player keep working on his jump shot even though the odds of NCAA players getting picked in one of the 60 slots of the NBA draft is ~1%? It's because playing basketball is what interests him.
Same for aspiring actors pursuing Hollywood fame that probably won't happen, researchers toiling away on scientific breakthoughs that may never materialize, startup founders building elusive unicorns, etc.
Yes, the similar DHH essays promoting "bootstrapping" and "slow growth" are always highly upvoted on HN because VCs are widely perceived as detrimental. However, both your and DHH's philosophy leaves out a crucial detail: What is the entrepreneur interested in working on?
If the interests happens to be a business that can be bootstrapped, then great. Pursue that option. However, if it's a business that requires millions to build out infrastructure (e.g. many consumer-facing websites), somebody with deep pockets (e.g. VCs) is the typical financing option since banks won't provide loans.