I ain't no angel but I have made some startup investments

I'm not saying the only reason I've categorically refused to invest in tech startups in the past was my instinctual aversion to the term "angel investor", but it surely did play a part! There's just something so ridiculously self-serving about this angelic charade that turned me off for the longest time. So too did the fact that every ...

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Jarrett Benson

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Everyone here's always talking about whether to get VC capitol or bootstrapp...good to see the Basecamp co-founder weigh in with a balanced take.

Not everyone has the capacity to build the thrusters needed in a shed behind an existing business. There are tech entrepreneurs out there who have the tenacity, adjacent skills, and drive to make something substantial happen, but need some investment money to pull it off.

OP makes a good point that some builders aren't talented sellers...they need someone invested who can help with that part.

btcmaxi

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2 years ago
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  Totally agree with you. It's pretty cool to see this sentiment become more widely encouraged:
  
  "We desperately need more tech companies that aren't solely focused on unicorn stardom, the big exit, or any of the other bullshit markers of success in that world. The straight bootstrapping route gives us some, but we need more, and to get that, we need money."
  
  There are so many paths to success. It's hard enough to "make it" so why close off alternative opportunities to succeed?
  
  patmcmanus
  
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  2 years ago
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We desperately need more tech companies that aren't solely focused on unicorn stardom, the big exit, or any of the other bullshit markers of success in that world.

That's what this economical/VC crisis will do. It will filter out the businesses who try to raise money without showing up any revenue. Business that ironically don't need any money to survive will have plenty of opportunities to raise capital.

And if everything goes as it should, this should create more space for bootstrapped businesses. Marketing should get less expensive (due to less capital and startups spending on ads just because they can spend) and the competition should dwindle.

As much as I hate and dread this economic crisis, I'm also excited about the opportunities.

zerotousers

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2 years ago
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I think in today's time you can build something great without a lot of VC money. Especially in a SaaS area and serverless development environments you can build a Product for less than 50 $. For some cases where you want or need to blitzscale it makes maybe sense, but not for every startup / smb out there.

arthurliebhardt

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2 years ago
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This comment was deleted a year ago.

DeletedUser

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2 years ago
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  Totally. I get some 'idea guy' hitting me up at least monthly asking me to build their app idea.
  
  They never have money, but they have 'investors in the wings', ready for when they have a working MVP.
  
  Their idea of an MVP is something with the same amount of features as the current version of facebook.
  
  They have no tech experience, no idea about the development process, and no idea how long it takes or how many people are required to build something.
  
  And they want you to 'partner' with them for 'equity'.
  
  There should be some kind of PSA informing wantrepreneurs how not to be 'idea guys'.
  
  matt_trussell
  
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  2 years ago
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    This comment was deleted a year ago.
    
    DeletedUser
    
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    2 years ago