Once you're on the investment treadmill, growth is everything. Every dime of profit is a dime not reinvested in growing the company. Early investors are making a tremendous commitment - they're not just investing, they're giving up liquidity on their investment. They can't just turn around and resell it to invest in something else, the way they could with publicly-traded stocks. Illiquidity is a largely alien concept to most people.
A little background. There are really three factors to any investment - risk, return, and liquidity. The more you sacrifice with one, the more you expect from the others. Startup investments are high risk and low liquidity, so they should generate incredible returns when they do succeed.
So no, your angels and VC don't want profitability. They want growth. When you finally achieve a "liquidity event" (selling the company, or IPO), it's getting sold to the people who want profitability, and are willing to sacrifice returns for it. Different investors, different needs.
As a business, if you want control, you eschew investment and instead target profitability and stability. But you're greatly limiting your growth. That's fine, too.
Do you want to be rich, or do you want to be king? If you want to be king, avoid investors and build for stability. If you want to be rich, take the investment and grow as fast as you can.
If you want to stand on the sidelines, that's fine too. But don't laugh and mock business decisions by smart and determined people. Maybe they're trying to solve a problem you don't understand.
A little background. There are really three factors to any investment - risk, return, and liquidity. The more you sacrifice with one, the more you expect from the others. Startup investments are high risk and low liquidity, so they should generate incredible returns when they do succeed.
So no, your angels and VC don't want profitability. They want growth. When you finally achieve a "liquidity event" (selling the company, or IPO), it's getting sold to the people who want profitability, and are willing to sacrifice returns for it. Different investors, different needs.
As a business, if you want control, you eschew investment and instead target profitability and stability. But you're greatly limiting your growth. That's fine, too.
Do you want to be rich, or do you want to be king? If you want to be king, avoid investors and build for stability. If you want to be rich, take the investment and grow as fast as you can.
If you want to stand on the sidelines, that's fine too. But don't laugh and mock business decisions by smart and determined people. Maybe they're trying to solve a problem you don't understand.