

Ask HN: Startups with a goal of absolutely no VC? - bgnm2000

For a long time I always felt like one of my goals was to start a business that I could raise some VC for and then grow into something enormous.. I can admit, that I'm a 37s fanboy, and over time have grown to loathe the idea of raising VC.<p>I'm working on something right now, that I think could be pretty big - but I'm much more concerned with creating an amazing product, growing slowly, having it cover its own costs, and becoming profitable as soon as possible - rather than even consider raising VC.<p>Just wondering what percentage of HNers are on the same page with me when it comes to starting a business, or are on the other side of things looking to raise capital?
======
retroafroman
A few years ago I was reading "Growing a Business" by Paul Hawken[1], in which
he shares his experiences in entrepreneurship (which are quite dated, but
interesting). One thing that stuck out to me was that in his first business,
he used $1000 to get up and started, and in the latest one at the time of
writing, had used over $100,000. He said in the first he would have felt
uncomfortable with more than a grand in the first experience and uncomfortable
with less than a hundred grand in the last example.

I took away the point that the amount of funding needed to start a business is
variable, and so are the needs of the founders. Founders shouldn't deal with
more or less than they are comfortable with. Personally, I lean more in the
direction you do, wanting a business to be cash flow positive before I took
any outside capital. But that would be extremely difficult in many situations,
and limiting yourself to having a product that is very small profitable now
may limit your ability to build a product that is hugely profitable in the
future. My thinking is that a founder needs to take time and evaluate
carefully whether they should seek investment or bootstrap.

[1] [http://www.amazon.com/Growing-Business-Paul-
Hawken/dp/067167...](http://www.amazon.com/Growing-Business-Paul-
Hawken/dp/0671671642)

~~~
bmelton
I agree with everything you've said, but want to add that for new
entrepreneurs, it's wise to start your earlier ventures with the minimal
amount of money and grass-roots types of efforts. From this, you grow to
understand your strengths and weaknesses. A good entrepreneur may not learn
great marketing techniques as a result of doing self-marketing, but may learn
that he is not a good marketeer, which is just as valuable.

Serial entrepreneurs like to start with more money because, in part, I think
they already know what types of endeavors it makes sense to pay somebody else
to do.

------
ohashi
Having a goal of not raising capital seems like a silly goal to state. I think
you better addressed it in your actual post:

"concerned with creating an amazing product, growing slowly, having it cover
its own costs, and becoming profitable as soon as possible "

I took amazing product and becoming profitable (same as covering costs, no?)
as self explanatory and not needing explanation. However, growing slowly needs
a reason in my mind. There may be some justification, but you haven't stated
why. I also don't like limiting ones options for arbitrary reasons, you might
need a big pile of cash to take your product to the next level despite being
profitable. VC could really important at that point because the opportunity
might be time sensitive.

------
chowlet
I see it similarly--not really looking for VC investment. I don't really focus
on 37S; my goal to create a product that has sufficient value that
people/users (at least some) will pay for it. Short-term, of course, it's more
challenging to bootstrap, but in addition to coding, I've thought through a
fairly solid revenue model. We'll see what happens.

------
lynnfredricks
Raising capital isn't like dusting crops, fanboy :-)

Given this venue, there are a lot of VC minded developers. Going that route
isn't a requirement to being successful. Ive started several companies without
taking any outside money, and most of my clients are the same. No matter which
way you go though, if you try to do everything yourself you are more likely
than not to end up with a failure. Find one or two others who share your
vision, who also bring critical skills to the table.

------
dterra
Sometimes it is not about the money, but more about exposure, mentorship, and
helping you execute your idea better. 37s did the same with Bezos...

------
exline
Not interested in raising any VC. I've been part of a startup dealing with
VC's and had a second startup fail to get the required VC investment. In both
experiences, it was not fun.

Its far better create a product and grow the business. I also like owning the
whole business and calling the shots. I'll take a 50% chance at a moderate
success over a 1% chance at a huge success.

