“Make $ Don’t Raise $” nearly brought a tear to my eye. In the last few weeks I have become completely disillusioned by my entrepreneurial ventures because what for me what started as a passionate obsession with connecting people in love so they can fill the void of loneliness (ie; online dating that works idea) just became about how to raise $ and then when I raise that $ to hire the builders of this tool, how to raise more $ and in the end true success in business is actually defined by building a business that you can ultimately sell. I started to question why am I doing this business? Is this what business is really all about, fundraise to sell?
Yesterday, I went to an Angel Investor event and I asked, “if a company does so well, shouldn’t they be able to use the profits they generate from their goods/services to reinvest in the needs of their business? Why do all these successful brands have to keep borrowing millions of dollars in all these fundraising rounds?” Everyone of course looked at me with shame in disgust (they were all there to get investment money I walked in the door knowing I was out) but I had to say it because none of this makes sense to me.
I thought the whole point was that your business generates your money, not investors. Until reading this article I convinced myself that perhaps I was just a quitter and using this disillusionment as an excuse to back out of a long road of struggle and begging that I’m not prepared to go down at this point in my life. Everyone I have talked about this with argues it’s “par for the course” and this is business. So when I read this article, I was just so incredibly relieved that someone’s philosophy I deeply admire and business grind anyone would aspire to emulate, is seemingly on the same page as me in terms of the landscape of the startup world and the fundraising racket. It just sucks the joy out of the process and leaves me forever indebted to people for all time.Thank you thank you thank you for the inspiration!