Taking Funding for your Startup is not Evil

As the founder of a startup myself, and the recipient of funding, I believe it depends entirely on the nature of your business, and most importantly the market that the business is entering into.

Each new business must consider

a). the critical mass they need to achieve to reach a market and b). the velocity they need to run at to meet that time of opportunity.

These 2 considerations will often determine whether externally (VC or Private Equity) funding your business is necessary. If you attempt to enter into a market place where all of the players (new and existing) are heavily funded, you will probably fail to penetrate regardless of the quality and performance of your product.

On the other side, if you gather funds to support your business in a field that has limited margins, or is slow growing, then you may fail to achieve the returns that your investors are looking for.

So - it all depends - but you need to make a decision based on the facts in your business plan.