But as a candidate I’d be cautious about taking a job at a self funded startup. They’re probably cash constrained so the base salary might not be as much. And if there is equity, I would want management beholden to people expecting 10x growth.
As an engineer, this does hit the paycheck directly - if they go hire more devs to speed product features to market while at the same time increasing sales and marketing... it can change from a bootstrapped model with no end to the runway into a situation where you do have a runway, and it is counted in months, not years. Instead of steady pay with plenty of time to deliver new product, I'm being pushed to deliver quickly, and if we fail, we're unemployed.
And yes, we probably get lower salaries for that model because we are taking less risk. But steady, lower stress work is desired by some of us, and a small bootstrapped group delivers it better than a VC.
Of course there's always the other outcome where both of these are just jobs and you are not invested beyond that. Then there's no real difference beyond the economics.
A Founder is playing 1, only one bet. I would rather go with the Founder that can build a strong business with revenue.
Like, for some reason, I criticized and looked down on a company for having a convertible debt round instead of a "real Series" where they sold equity.
Or I criticized a company for not having X, Y, Z investors closing rounds.
The reality is that I found myself in situations, as an employee, where I had to actually explain myself to founders about my thoughts on why revenues were important. That particular startup failed to sell more equity in the necessary time period and closed up shop.
In more broader circumstances, the dilution and liquidity preferences are more harmful to founders and employees.
And as a founder, I specifically do non-dilutive things, such as doling out %'s of specific revenue streams or % of products created. Obtaining the same support and sometimes capital or things booked as unearned income, while keeping much more control or total control and upside.
VC money means "we throw money at you until we no longer don't" or "we throw money at you because we're in hostile market takeover through price dumping".