Bootstrap until it hurts. Then sell until it works. Then, and only then, maybe raise. Not because you have to. But because you want to.

Play the game, but set your own scoreboard.

$10K MRR beats $1M seed - every single time.

Because revenue funds growth. And control funds your sanity.

Bootstrapping forces clarity. VC forces theater.

I’ve done both. I’ve pitched to people who wore Patagonia vests and nodded through my slide 6. I’ve also sold $20K deals with nothing but a Calendly link and a Stripe account.

Let me tell you: freedom tastes better than approval.

You don’t need permission to build a business. You don’t need capital to start one. You need customers. You need conviction. You need the willingness to suck at it until you don’t.

Scale is a consequence, not a starting point. You scale what works. You don’t scale what pleases investors. If you’re at $10K MRR, you have proof. Real customers, real problems, real cash. If you’re post-seed and pre-revenue, you have runway - and a gun to your head.

Which one is more free?

Figures out pricing through trial and error. No board meetings. No investor calls. No pressure to swing for the fences.

Startup B gets to $10K MRR with no funding. Founder is doing sales, support, product. Launches a barebones app that works. Onboards users manually. Solves their problems one by one.

The founder now spends 40% of their time prepping decks and giving updates. Every decision becomes a group project. Every week is a new fire.

Startup A raises $1M in seed funding. Hires 6 people. Rents a nice office. Spends 4 months building an MVP. Launches. Gets 800 users. Churn is brutal. Burn is $80K/month. Investors want traction. They want a story.