Nika

A few years ago, getting a VC check was the ultimate shortcut. The fastest way to scale. The signal that you'd "made it." But with AI is a little bit different.

Global VC funding declined 30% in Q1 2024. One of the lowest quarters since 2018. And bootstrapped startups are quietly catching up. Recent data shows bootstrapped businesses are growing as fast as VC-backed startups, while spending only about one-quarter as much on customer acquisition.

When I started my first job after school at a small local agency, a project manager once said something like: If someone has three companies on their CV and stayed less than a year in each, it doesn t look good.

I took that to heart. I tried to stay longer in every role, so I wouldn t seem unreliable, even in underpaid jobs I didn t enjoy. I endured it just to make my CV look stable. In hindsight, it was a little bit stupid. (Sometimes a waste of time.)

I was on a call with a founder and they asked me to turn on my camera on Google Meet.

I said no citing that they have brought in the call recorder without my consent. I consent for voice recording and summarizing, not video capture.