My Startup has 30 Days to Live
I'm going to say this knowing that I may get down voted to heck. And I don't mean it as a "told you so" to the OP, but rather hopefully some cautionary advice for would-be founders.<p>I have come to the opinion that if you are bootstrapping, you have no business calling your company a startup. You are building a small business. And there is nothing shameful about this. You are among solid companions with your local plumbers, restaurants, and barbers. You make a good living building a sustainable business that is growing steadily but slowly, to serve a small group of loyal customers.<p>But you are not a startup.<p>Startups are about growth. About chasing metrics like 5% week over week. About going from 100 customers to 100,000 in a month. That is the reason you take VC money. It's not "I have this idea for a business, but I need some money to quit my job while I work on it". It's "I have an idea for a business that could be huge but I need to build it up <i>fast</i>".<p>So when I see someone bemoaning the advice they were given by their investors, telling them they should be meeting all these crazy metrics, I can't help but ask, what did you expect? The VC isn't in the business of slow, organic growth of your company. They are in the business of generating a return for their fund within a relatively short timeframe. The advice you get is their best effort to try and help you find "explosive" growth.<p>Before you sign your bootstrapped business on for investment money, ask yourself: is this business, and more importantly am I, really suited for massive, short term growth?