Indeed! And an honorable failure — where you learned a ton, tried your best to succeed, but it just didn’t work — is a terrific outcome. We acquihire “failed” startups quite regularly. The founders of those companies have often turned into some of our best senior engineering and product leaders. And some of them go on to then leave after learning from us to give a startup a go again.

Success or failure aren’t the bad startup outcomes. The worst startup outcome is The Slog. The Slog sucks. I have several friends stuck in The Slog. Symptoms: you’re growing just barely enough to hold things together (call it 10–20% YoY on <$200k in revenue per employee). You keep thinking the next big thing is just over the horizon. You have a handful of customers who say they love you but won’t buy any more from you. Every once in a while you get some press or show up on HN saying you’re cool.

THAT is the recipe for disaster. You can wake up and realize 10 years have passed and you have nothing (economically, educationally, or emotionally) to show for it. It’s possible both with bootstrapped and VC-backed startups. The Slog is the worst startup outcome.

Bad VCs can definitely make The Slog worse. There’s so much money in the system there’s almost always someone who will put more in, even if on worse and worse terms. Good VCs, on the other hand, can help get you out of The Slog. They can counsel you when it’s time to give up. They can introduce you to potential acquirers. And while it may not be a huge financial win for you or them, it’s a much better outcome than slogging on indefinitely.