Seriously though, you should read "Lost and Founder"[0] by Rand Fishkin of Moz for some insight on what's in store. VC's expect very high multiples on their return 10x is not even close, even small seed funds look for 40x+. That said I am not totally convinced of either model something like TinySeed[1] looks like a step in the right direction. At the end of the day it's about the fit for your business you're not going to escape burnout based on how you are funded.
You're right on the 10x being low asprouse, I probably shouldn't have included that.
Agree Tiny Seed looks interesting, I actually recommended someone that earlier this afternoon. Great to see new takes on funding businesses and I'm excited to see what it can unlock for those who need a little boost but don't want to chase the unicorn.
Lost and founder is already on my Audible wishlist, expect to get to it in the next month after finishing Scott Belsky's Messy Middle.[0]
It gets messy. As are all startups to one extent or another. You ride out the highs and lows and keep moving forwards. I wasn't trying to say that going the VC route is necessarily easier or better (I hope I made that clear), just that there are different upsides and downsides to each, one isn't objectively better than the other.
[0] https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35957156-lost-and-founde... [1] https://tinyseedfund.com