1/ The idea that you “only answer to customers” when you’re bootstrapped is really just silly.

2/ The implication is that if you take any type of funding, you now only do what your investors want. Which is also silly.

3/ When you’re bootstrapped, you answer to your mortgage, your student loan debt, your need to provide for your family, etc.

Which is, of course, all well and good. But don’t act like your customers are the only ones you’re serving because you’ve refused outside funding.

4/ Taking even small amounts of funding many times opens you up to take the most basic of risks you’d otherwise have avoided. It lets you live and support your family while you figure things out…and yes, it’s okay if you haven’t figured it all out at the start.

5/ The vast majority of funded startups aren’t making decisions based on maximizing returns for their investors at the detriment of everything else. In fact, most investors don’t *want* that because they know long term that hurts them.

6/ The whole “bootstrap vs VC” argument is exhausting and usually perpetuated by people who’ve never actually had any experiences on the VC side.

7/ Yes, there are awful stories of VCs being The Worst™, but the extremes aren’t the median.

/end rant…maybe

8/ Err, one more. There are SOOOO many different funding options these days. Each with pros/cons. If you actually dig in to them, I think you’d find many of them very founder friendly and a solid option for getting your company off the ground.