I guess the interesting question is the ultimate financial return for the founder from (a) VC funded hyper-unique optimized lean startup, or (b) a somewhat boring, non-unique, well-executed business.
No doubt if you found Facebook and you swear blood about it he fine detail of SEO optimisation, there's no competition. But what about in average, where a realistic best case scenario is a fairly successful startup with a few 100m exit and a lot of dilution.
I don't know the answer but often wonder. Running a startup sounds fun, but also the whole VC treadmill sounds very stressful.
I don’t consider VC funded companies as startups. If you have to answer to a board to stay alive due to needing that next round of financing, you are no longer in control of your own company and simply work for someone else with a fancy title and some extra steps. We call those folks CEOs.
It’s been weird watching the term morph into what it is today over the past 25 years. So much for hacking on a startup in your garage with friends after collecting enough money from friends and family to bootstrap yourself. Once you are taking millions of dollars from investors while being valued in the billions you are simply a boring old corporate enterprise to me. And that doesn’t even get into the absurdity of 10 year old “startups” with hundreds of employees.
I think the term loses all meaning when you are talking about established companies with HR departments.
Another way of looking at it is that the day you take funding from that day you are trying to sell that company. Realistically how many companies will have IPO. Not many. So your next best option is to get bought out.
How fucked up is that. Think about it. You are starting a startup and you know that your end goal is to sell it off. Fuck that shit. It's not for me.
No doubt if you found Facebook and you swear blood about it he fine detail of SEO optimisation, there's no competition. But what about in average, where a realistic best case scenario is a fairly successful startup with a few 100m exit and a lot of dilution.
I don't know the answer but often wonder. Running a startup sounds fun, but also the whole VC treadmill sounds very stressful.