Founding a funded startup which doesn’t work out largely does not and should not irreversibly damage the founders’ finances. We should stop implying this is routine and stop valorizing courses of action which increase likelihood of it happening, like not taking salary.
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Corollary: choose investors who understand they accepted that downside risk and will behave professionally if you have a bad (even just 90th percentile) outcome.
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And therefore get a whole lot downside protection on the money that is left, right? If f.ex the company is sold for some money less than inv. valuation
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You're right, unfortunately I've been majority a bootstrapped founder who's gotten comfortable surviving however I can to keep running the business. It's not ideal at all.
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complicated indeed. most bootstrappers also forego turbocharging growth in exchange for not selling call options on the cheap.
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This needs to be said more often.

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Ugh, Patrick, that's not accurate. I agree that "don't draw salary" is extreme, but I don't think VCs would fund my current total comp at a megacorp. So creating a startup carries the opportunity risk of ~6 months without pay, and small-fraction compensation for 12-36 months.
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