VC-backed businesses aren’t as glamorous as you might think.

The media often talks about the latest $10 million or $50 million raise but the reality is this: A $50 million raise doesn’t equal $50 million worth of free money!

It just comes with many strings attached:

🚫 A loss of ownership

🚫 Additional stakeholders to answer to; and

🚫 An immense pressure to succeed on an accelerated timeline.

Such “success” can be achieved only if a large portion of the investment is burned fast, which typically means massive hires.

And with massive hires come massive operational costs.

Costs that could topple a startup overnight, if the founder isn’t careful!

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I’ll admit that there was a time when I was once drawn to establishing such a VC-backed startup - the glamour, the prestige, and the $100 million exit was an intoxicating drug.

But along the way, I realised it wasn’t the kind of life I wanted.

The pressure and expectations just weren’t worth it.

I wanted to run my own business - and a VC-backed startup isn’t the only route.

I wanted to have the liberty to decide on when and where I worked and who I would work with.

With a small profitable business, I’m also in better control of my budget and have the liberty to experiment with new acquisition channels as opposed to when I was working at a fashion startup, where every dollar had to be accounted for.

Sure, I might not become the It Girl on Fortune and CNN.

But I have the freedom to build something on my own terms.

And that is a privilege that I’ll always be grateful for.

Because there is so much more to life than appearing on the cover of the next Forbes magazine. 😉


P/S: What matters more to you - glamour, freedom, or something else entirely? I’d love to know!