as a former employee of a venture capital firm, and a current founder of a startup that could easily raise venture capital, i'm most neutral.

throughout my career i've witnessed a lot of non venture-fundable businesses desperate to raise, and this group of founders is LOUD.

they are, i think, the reason we hear it is "so hard" to raise venture funding. statistically, yes it is hard. but when you have a killer idea, traction, and aren't a total retard at 8am coffee meetings, you can get the job done.

sadly, i used to be one of those founders with bad ideas, little traction, and a loud mouth, complaining about how unfair VCs seemed to be.

nowadays i have sort of the inverse sentiment: most VCs are dumb, and i'd rather not waste my time talking to them.

at Fomo we've received 100-200 cold outreach emails from venture capitalists over the years. usually i ignore them, sometimes i kick the tires to see what they could do for us.

ultimately, venture means loss of control and lower risk. bootstrapping means more control and more risk. i'll take choosing my own destiny every single time.