Response from: Taylor Davidson

$50K? Y Combinator et. al. typically fund about $5K per founder. Growth usually requires capital. It's up to the entrepreneur to determine when they need that capital. What's wrong with them determining they need it at an earlier stage? I'm a believer in bootstrapping, in entrepreneurs self-funding until they need outside capital to create a growth stage. But that point where they need funding is a different choice for every entrepreneur. And sometimes it's impossible to "prove" a model by generating cash flow without outside capital. Without a doubt I'm in favour in spending time creating products, not features, and businesses, not technologies. But there is a lot to be said for using small amounts of funds to take chances (both for entrepreneurs and VCs) to see how the froth of intellect hit the market and see what happens. And remember that entrepreneurs often take capital for reasons beyond money: connections, business development, etc. In the end it's an entrepreneurs choice, which depends on their business plan. Bootstrap as long as it makes sense, then find capital to grow. Pay attention to the terms of capital being accepted. And raise the right amount of money to fund their business plan appropriately (which usually means as much as possible).