VC post argues for bootstrapping (Part 2)

Filed in archive Bootstrapper Tips on September 26, 2006

CONTINUED FROM PREVIOUS POST

And here are a few more from Rob Finn's post "75 Blog Posts to Read Before Talking to a VC". Meant as a primer on what VC's look for, these links could be seen as an argument for bootstrapping:

• One glance at Fabrice Grinda's nine business selection criteria for investment will tell you how few startups could fit into this mold.

• And here's what sounds like a VC argument against make or break financial strategies...hmmmmm...like taking a hundred gazillion dollars from a Venture Capitalist firm perhaps?

• My favorite quote from my favorite post on this subject by Guy Kawasaki remains the opener.

Someone once told me that the probability of an entrepreneur getting venture capital is the same as getting struck by lightning while standing at the bottom of a swimming pool on a sunny day. This may be too optimistic.

• Software startup guy Dharmesh Shah and Ian Landsman both argue for different approaches to keeping the cash flowing like any good bootstrapper.

• A link to my blog with a link in turn to Seth Godin's bootstrapping book (Thanks for the traffic, Rob)

• Check out the second and third subheads under Philip Greenspun's "Tips for Startup Companies"

• Then look at Tim O'Reilly's first and last points under "money"

• Reading David Deisel's post, you are forced to wonder why a bootstrapper would ever seek to gain outside investment once she has built the product herself with sweat equity

If VC's are suggesting nowadays that most companies need not apply, this article from the Boston Business Journal suggests the feeling may be mutual.

READ PART 1 OF THIS POST