The Pmarca Guide to Startups, Part 6: How much funding is too little? Too much?

Marc seems to advocate raising a ton of money, and then spending it prudently. Which sounds great, but I've read that many VCs aren't that happy with that plan. They want their companies to roll the damn dice already, grow huge quickly, or flame out quickly (allowing the VCs to focus on their few 'home run' companies). The relevant quote being "once you take a few million of my dollars, the clock is ticking".

Aside from a passing reference to not giving up control, I don't see this concern addressed anywhere in the article. Would a post-huge-money board really be ok with a "save it for a rainy day" money management strategy?

andreeson seems to have the same general approach as paul graham, but often differs in the details. for example, it sounds like marc is advocating raising a lot more money than paul would. my impression of graham's funding advice is to get by on zero outside funding dollars, if you can swing it. it would be interesting to hear these two guys discuss things like this.