[rodyancy]

I used to play high limit poker and it is quite common in the poker world for the best players to "share" themselves in a tournament or, more likely, in a game where the stakes are huge.

Being able to self-fund isn't always reason enough to self-fund. In this case, Joel may want to expand into 10,000 niches, but may worry whether the venture will be profitable. I'm just speculating. If there is VC willing to take some of the risk with him, for an equity share that he accepts and thinks is a good deal, is it still wrong for him to accept it? I don't think so.