seems the world is binary for founders 0 bootstrap 1 venture capital As a bootstrapper, I’m not against outside money or giving ownership away. But is there something between bootstrapping and taking venture capital?
You could just take only a little bit of VC. Klaviyo which IPOd recently spent only $15m VC money
Institutional partnerships worked well for solvemed.ai Basically, you provide a value for companies with half-backed SOTA tech. Often there are short-term pivot requests but they are valuable as they point to market needs. Requires strong connection and trust though.
Angel / “friends and family” Microlending or other debt financing Incubator program an alternative path to a traditional funding mechanism
Vc is money can be useful. When it comes from the right vc at the right time for the right reason. Vinod khosla explains it the best
Impact investors are the “in between”: slightly different financial expectations. There must also be a clear social impact returns though.
Slightly Off-topic (sorry Tim): Does anyone have a link to a good article on the ideal $-% ratio for pre-seed startups?
