Ask HN: Bootstrapped vs funded startups, what are non-obvious differences?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3138610

by cavalcade • 15 years ago

9 6 15 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

In terms of culture, pressures, operations, emotional and that kind of things.

patio11• 15 years ago

I just had the opportunity to tour the Valley a few weeks ago and talk to people. The big totally-did-not-expect-that thing that kept coming up in conversations: the relationship between co-founders is often intensely stressful and frequently a source of business failure. I was expecting that people occasionally had different ideas on directions for the business. Some of the stories put me in mind of tabloid coverage of Hollywood divorces.

Not sure if that is a funded-startup thing exclusively, as I know at least one bootstrapped startup with co-founder drama, but adding investors to the mixed seem to bring a lot of things to a boil.

cavalcade• 15 years ago

This is in line with the often cited "fact" that the no.1 reason startups fail is they kill themselves or implode

hboon• 15 years ago

Definitely not limited to funded-startup. I have been either directly involved or personally seen a couple of bootstrapped startups whose co-founders left their startup within 1 year due to co-founders not working well together.

I actually thought it's the number 1 killer.

strebel• 15 years ago

We are based in Arizona and bootstrapped. I have made this analogy in the past: "Arizona company's have to be hearty like a cactus with a 'real business' built on a sound model to cope with scarcity of resources. SV based funded companies are as plentiful as spring flowers are here in the desert but rarely make it through the summer heat"

Silly okay.. but I think it speaks to the culture. No one I know here in Arizona includes "after our series A" in their plans. A higher valuation seems to be the end goal for most startups in the Valley, and dramatically alters the way they do things.

Personally I would dread trying to outrun the burn rate funded companies operate under as 99% of them have no revenue or not enough to turn a profit.

We are forced to build a 'boring' business that can sustain itself from nearly day 1, which leads to a different culture entirely. We solve the revenue equation first, which makes things easier and less stressful in the long run. My 2 cents and YMMV

rfurlan• 15 years ago

1. Getting funded can generate a great deal of buzz, which can be very beneficial. 2. Having investors means having access to their networks, which is sometimes worth more than money. 3. If you bootstrap, every single dollar you make is yours. Also, every dollar you spend could have been yours to keep. 4. Without having investors freaking out about their 30x returns you might not move as fast as you could. 5. It is nice to have your investors pushing you outside your comfort zone (to give that talk, make that phone call).

rzbn• 15 years ago

From my understanding, the buzz you get from getting funded and who your investors are is actually worth more than they money they get. There are lots of great products getting built but there is no platform to launch them. Your average founder's network consists of what maybe a few hundred people consisting of family and friends and most of them non-techy so they wont be the first to try new things.

While a funded VC has access to the extensive network of influential investors, thousands of people and buzz from blogs.

Ask HN: Bootstrapped vs funded startups, what are non-obvious differences?

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