PG context of a startup is a company that has the potential to make it into a leading stock market index. Anything else is considered a "life style" business and not within YC or most other VC's scope of interest for funding.
Thus they do not hedge your financial risk they increase your risk.
VC only makes sense if you are bound and determined to make a billion dollar, or at least 100 million dollar company.
They do not give you access to networks IP or make things happen, they give you money and then they double dip on the backend.
The romanticized view of VCs present on this site is not reflective of reality... or my nearly 30 years of dealign with them.
Most companies YC funds do not have the potential to be on a stock market index, because they are features as much as products at that stage and often addressing smaller markets. They are still startups.
YC and VC are very particular avenues for startups, but they are not what DEFINES a startup. YC and VC are the sillicon valley model and that is really actually a small part of the total startup ecosystem, though it is the one that makes the most noise.
You're confusing hacker news with "silicon valley". That's a mistake. And VCs are irrelevant, really, in this age of angels. Thank god they are going away, though of course they don't realize it yet.
VCs are the enemy. If you want to have a successful company, never deal with them, except at the very latest stages where you give them a bond like return in exchange for them getting to claim they invested in your company.
Angels are generally your friend, though.
Your thinking will be better off if you just don't think of the term "lifestyle" business. It's a pejorative used to manipulate you into wasting your life in service to someone else's narrative.
I'm not some kid with a keyboard- I've spent nearly 30 years in the trenches dealing with VCs and helping startups.
Exactly. I've only ever heard this from someone seeking transaction fees. As in, "Not there's anything wrong with running a lifestyle business." While their body language suggests everything is wrong with that.
Who are you serving? Investors or yourself? The SV model is that this is all that matters but a 50M business is still a damn good business and not a "lifestyle" business.
Also, read the rest of the quite-- lifestyle business was only one of the options.
It's quite possible to build a fast growing business that you never sell, that's not a "lifestyle" business.
The either/or dichotomy is disproven by your quote.