To Chase VC... Or to Not Chase VC

Welcome to the Dave vs. Startups.

So many founders are chasing venture capital when they should be running away from it.

I think every startup right now should be deeply skeptical of why they need venture capital at their early stages. I'm not a fan of early capital at all.

Here's why that conventional wisdom around needing funding is complete garbage (at least in 2025):

People will tell you that you're not a startup unless you get funding.

They'll say you need funding just to compete or be able to be in a market.

But when you look at the actual data, 70% of startups fail in years two to five.

Meanwhile, 75% of venture-backed startups fail after year four.

And that's when the money runs out for most investments.

So the data shows getting funding doesn't actually make you more likely to succeed.

But most people just assume that getting funding is the “right thing to do.”

The reality is you should actively avoid funding, especially in the early stages.

There might be cases later on for older companies where capital makes sense to really step on growth when you already have market acceptance.

But early stage? Skip it.

What's changed is that bootstrapping has never been more powerful than it is right now.

You can avoid hiring people for way longer now than you could even two or three years ago because of AI tools and automation.

There's a real case now where you could have a company doing millions of dollars a year and it's just you and your co-founder.

That's totally doable today.

The tools exist to stay lean much longer while still scaling revenue.

You don't need other people's money when you can build efficient systems that let you grow without the overhead.

Stop assuming you need funding.

Start assuming you don't.

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Chris and I tackle whether or not remote work is dead in the latest episode of the pod.

Tune into the Startup Different Podcast