We’ve all seen the headlines:
- “4M raised to disrupt left-handed coffee mugs”
- “7.2M pre-seed for the Uber of dog yoga”
- “4.4M raised to optimize how roommates split pizza”
- “6M seed round for AI-powered office fridge management”
It’s not that venture capital is inherently bad. It’s that somewhere along the way, raising money became the goal that replaced building something people actually need.
And with that mindset, the mission shifts from solving real problems to looking fundable.
What happens next is almost inevitable. Conversations with users get replaced by meetings with investors. The team spends more time perfecting slides than understanding the people they’re building for. Money gets spent faster than value is created.
The uncomfortable truth behind the headlines.
Here’s the part no one likes to say out loud: Raising millions doesn’t prove you’ve nailed product-market fit. A sky-high valuation doesn't guarantee a single cent in profits. And even with all that capital, most VC-backed startups still don’t make it.
Take Doctorly, for example. A prominent player in the German healthcare tech space. They raised roughly €20M over six years, yet filed for bankruptcy just a few weeks ago. All that money couldn’t save them from the brutal reality: funding doesn’t fix fundamentals.
Ironically, many of those overfunded founders secretly admire the quiet, profitable bootstrappers:
- Building lean.
- Growing through revenue, not rounds.
- Answering to customers, not a boardroom.
No external pressure. No vanity plays. Just steady, real progress.
For founders who feel stuck in the raise-or-fail loop:
- You don’t need millions. You need clarity.
- You don’t need validation. You need paying users.
- You don’t need permission. You need traction.
The founders who win? They play a different game.
This game isn’t about who raises the most. It’s about who’s still standing 5 years from now. With happy customers, money in the bank, and full control over the thing they built.
Build what matters. Charge for it. Stay in control.
