- Imho I would go back to part time work, and use only your own money until you've got a nice MVP, then perhaps you'll end up finding out you don't need others money.
- and when you do go back for money - make sure to have a answer to what you'll use it for (that should be the pitch for the money) .. along with # of users, Rev, Profit and some basic projections (Both good projections and worst case)
I also have another take on this -- those who want XXX,XXX in funding and say they will be killing it RIGHT NOW if they had the money don't even have what it takes to really get deep in there and grind it out -- putting in years of work and development. You can't just throw money at everything and it will become the next big thing -- Color is a prime example of that.
Bootstrapping has a short runway based on our own pockets. VC funded runways are often more controlled by outsiders.
If you can bootstrap to breaking even, you can let it sit and grow for a longer time even if you return to other work, in a way that VC backed startups wouldn't linger.
Sometimes great ideas need to let the market / demand needs to grow. Like buying property before area area starts to re-develop. If you have a business that's selling already, it will help get better and higher amounts investment should you want to go that route.
Imho, VC's want to be water to an already sprouted and growing plant.
Great link, thanks for sharing 0.02
If you were starting a more technology intensive company, you could very well need to raise a ton of money to start building a basic prototype.
I wish authors would qualify their bold statements.
