> Lesson: Start with selling a Product not a Platform Good advice. People rarely want a platform, especially from a new entrant. They want an aspirin tablet. Once they are hooked you can expand.
I remember VCs telling me to be a platform, not a product. "Look at what FB is doing!" It made sense for FB, but that doesn't mean it makes sense for everyone. A sticky platform will be stickier than a sticky product. But that doesn't mean every product should be made into a platform.
VCs incentives may not be aligned with your incentives. They are looking for Unicorns (Decacorns? Centocorns?) and are prepared to have _you_ take on a high risk of failing to improve their 1:100 successful investment upside calculations. You building a comfortable 8 figure revenue and 7 figure profit company over 5 or 10 years is basically a failure in their eyes.
For every Facebook or AWS, there are a 100,000 profitable "product companies" and probably a million successful-enough "lifestyle businesses".
If you want to take on the risk and shoot for the stars, sure - follow that VC advice. If you'd personally be happy with an 8 figure exit or a high six figure salary for as long as you want it, you can reduce your risk of failure substantially by _not_ following that advise to the letter.