Is it better to bootstrap and take longer OR raise to go faster, but give up independence?

Question

When it comes to taking on investment, it seems like two camps exist.

One is to take on capital, pin your ears back and go at break-neck speeds to capture as much market share as possible. The other is a more patient, self-funded approach that values independence & autonomy.

Each has advantages ( & downsides). Curious to know your views or personal experience with this.

Joonas Hämäläinen · Accepted Answer

Doing bootstrapping myself.

Choice was made for this road to keep independence, and to be able do things own way.
When that choice was made, it felt good that there wouldn't be external pressure.

Now I think that lack of external pressure has been biggest downside. Internal pressure hasn't been big enough. Priorities have also changed during past few years. Of course pandemic affects all that, but could've been same without that also.

For next time, I'd probably try to go fast way to find funding / external pressure, just to make sure things progress fast.

This opinion could of course change, if my bootstrapped project takes off nicely once I've done final push to it.

Paul Sutton · Answer

I think that bootstrapping is preferable for the foreseeable future if you can pull it off. Interest rate hikes will make raising money considerably more challenging, and the deals will be less generous to founders.

Joonas Hämäläinen · Answer

@dave_prince2 I believe that with investor, there would be pretty clear schedule how things are projected to go. And if it doesn't work, then funding is lost, and business idea is folded. It most likely wouldn't be too long, more like 1 - 3 years maybe.

With bootstrapping, if you have secured your life in a way that you can do bootstrapping, you might end up doing things a lot longer that way, as you're in such spot. It can be scary to pivot your idea, and if you need to do some side gigs for income, they makes you lose focus and adds to time things takes to complete.

Mark Campbell · Answer

@robert_sutton1 good insight about the interest rate hikes and the cost of finance

Answer

@kerberos that's a good insight. I have had similar thoughts about how an investor would drive us harder to deliver more, in a shorter span of time - helping us reach our goals earlier. I don't want to work that crazy for a long period of time - but in short burst, I could see how money and pressure to deliver could be a positive thing (with the right type of investor).

Is it better to bootstrap and take longer OR raise to go faster, but give up independence?

Replies