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Ask HN: Is it okay to just bootstrap it, even when VCs are knocking?

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Re: Ask HN: Is it okay to just bootstrap it, even when VCs are knocking?

#61

Post by dolmen »

null0pointer wrote: post #12

Congratulations on finding success and satisfaction in your work. I hope to one day find the same. Personally, I think you should keep doing what you’re doing. If you accept VC money you are now beholden to your shareholders and are no longer in control of your business. The degree of autonomy you have, the quality of your product, and the satisfaction you derive from your work will all surely suffer as a result. It’…

VC money implies that the VC will usually want an exit in 5 years (or less). With VC money clock is running. That's not what you want if you really care about your product.

Re: Ask HN: Is it okay to just bootstrap it, even when VCs are knocking?

#62

Post by teh_klev »

spaceman_2020 wrote: post #20

I can tell from your post that you will absolutely hate ceding control to a VC I would recommend finding a co-founder who has similar ideals but can handle the parts you don’t like doing, and has business experience. You’ll get much further without losing real control

> I would recommend finding a co-founder who has similar ideals but can handle the parts you don’t like doing, and has business experience

Why does this need to be a co-founder? You can hire people as employees to do the daily "business" grunt work.

Re: Ask HN: Is it okay to just bootstrap it, even when VCs are knocking?

#65

Post by testmasterflex »

baxtr wrote: post #39

If you want to go this round, find someone who can help/coach you. VCs and boards, in particular, need to be adequately managed. This is no rocket science but requires some experience managing stakeholders. It’s a “game” you need to know how to play.

Any insights into what kinds of lessons one would need to learn to play with the big boys/girls?

Re: Ask HN: Is it okay to just bootstrap it, even when VCs are knocking?

#66

Post by drdrek »

You are not nuts but knowing what you feel in the future is very hard while having money can almost guarantee that you will be able to take more choices that make you happy.

Just heard about someone working on a passion project for two years alone and he got burned out and only wants to sell it to someone so he can stop. Did he enjoy doing it for a year? hell yeah! could he have anticipated he will burn out? not sure.

Will you want to continue do this particular project in a year? two? ten? what about family, kids health issues? each one can take something that you used to enjoy and turn it into a burden.

VCs will push you forward, getting co-founders will push you forward, getting employees will push you forward. Will this reduce the joy that you feel now? almost certainly. Will it improve the chances that you can have a life changing amount of money that will let you make more enjoyable choices in the future? very likely so.

A business is not always fun, but fun things usually don't stay fun forever anyway. Ask anyone that used to have a band :)

Re: Ask HN: Is it okay to just bootstrap it, even when VCs are knocking?

#67

Post by codingdave »

Bootstrapping a business is normal outside of tech, and common in tech when outside of SV. Not only is it a good thing, it allows you to be more sustainable. VC will push you to be huge - to them, a small successful business is a failure: They need monster-sized successes. So they will push you to take large risks to get you there, and not really care if those risks cause your business to fail because they are pushing a dozen other people like you to do the same.

So if you are happy with the money and passionate about the space, you'd honestly be nuts to take VC funding.

Re: Ask HN: Is it okay to just bootstrap it, even when VCs are knocking?

#68

Post by testmasterflex »

edwnj wrote: post #32

Not weird. You just gotta build a shit ton of MOATS around the product. Its not easy but its also not an unreachably hard thing to do. I'd have MOAT as a top 3 priority, basically constantly asking myself how can I make it as close to a category of one as possible. Put it this way, opportunity doesn't strike often so when it does its your moral responsibility to grab it and put yourself in a position of strength.

Thanks for MOAT comment. Do you mind elaborating on that last sentence? How is it a moral responsibility you mean?

Re: Ask HN: Is it okay to just bootstrap it, even when VCs are knocking?

#70

Post by mattbrewsbytes »

OJFord wrote: post #58

> It probably won't last forever, but it's simple and it feels authentic. (Inexperienced armchair take:) it's more likely to last 'forever' (which I take to mean 'to retirement'/'as long as you want it to'/etc.) than taking investment/being acquired. Sure that could lead to lasting 'forever' on a bigger scale (as a more stable bigger company, or a longer 'forever'), but at a much lower probability. I don't think you'…

Depending on the market and competition there may be paths where it doesn't last forever or it gets into a steady state business.

I suspect what happens to a lot of bootstrapped SaaS companies as they grow is the founder(s) have to take on the CxO roles and then aren't in the trenches doing the actual work. Those roles don't sound fun to me. I wonder if the fun part is the bootstrapping to where VC come knocking on the door? If that is the case then taking on VC might work to take some money off the table but the other option of selling the entire business off could work too.

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