[colesantiago]

I see no reason founders should to go to VCs any more, these days if your startup isn’t able to become make money in a few years there isn’t any point to the startup anymore.

The days where VCs just fund anything is over and thr effects of post-ZIRP are kicking in with the closure of these funds.

Time for all startups to make a profit instead of trying to go from round to round and gamble and then inevitably shut down or get sold for scraps (if lucky)

[TaylorAlexander]

What if you want to do something expensive, like design a new fusion power plant? That can’t make money in a few years. There’s many types of businesses that need investment to get rolling.

[colesantiago]

Sounds like a recipe for an incredible sunk cost for investors and everyone.

You might as well work at an existing business rather than waste investors money when you know it's an expensive endeavor and you know there is no route for investors to get their money back.

Especially in this market where money isn't cheap anymore, not everything is investable.

A double negative.

[TaylorAlexander]

I didn’t say no route to get investor money back - but some things require a large capital investment to get started. Are you suggesting everything worth doing can be bootstrapped?

[quickthrower2]

The fusion example is extreme. That sort of thing needs government funding.

But say you want to make a new gadget, yeah you would find it hard to bootstrap unless you are already a multimillion dollar company.

[spacecadet]

Even gadgets can be bootstrapped, I have several toys I could productize tomorrow that cost me very little to prototype.

[TaylorAlexander]

Sure I’m bootstrapping a small toy now. But to suggest that every single business idea worth building right now can be bootstrapped - I don’t see it.

[pyb]

Why not ? Boostrapping + Kickstarter for instance is a well trodden path at this point.

[quickthrower2]

I didn’t consider kickstarter. Good point.

[fijiaarone]

Venture capital doesn’t do that. They fund simple websites like Facebook or Airbnb.

[pyb]

A bit extreme, but it's true that too many entrepreneurs seem more interested in finding funding than finding customers...