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Comment by codingdave | Hacker News Reader

> What would need to be true in 18 months for you to get essentially unlimited cheap capital?

I'd first ask, what would need to be true in 18 months to never have needed capital, and to be self-sustaining as a bootstrapped organization. Raising funds should be an option, but not the assumed path of all products.

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there are many alternative path to a successful strap, some that overlaps and some that are exclusive, this checklist seem geared toward ideas suitable for vc funding which isn't wrong per se but if you optimize for funding you end up with a diametrically different path that is usually not easy to bootstrap. it's something one has to decide early and influences the very shape of your startup, so that each one of those question would be invalid for the other path. corollary: I've got a checklist for bootstrapped startup, concerning the idea itself, and the line of questioning is really different

would you mind sharing it?

it's better described as a 'handbook for small-scale startup'

dropped a translation here https://pastebin.com/raw/HdcUVn8c

it concerns mostly around not doing things that don't scale, consider it a rough draft because I've never shared it, only tested around a bit, it's not like it's the final truth about the argument or anything.

Easier and cheaper to raise some capital when you don’t need it (as backup and for scaling) than later.

I've heard that, too. But I've never bought into it. Maybe I'm naive, but it seems to me that giving up any equity when you don't need to is unwise. As far as easier and cheaper, I have not seen costlier terms sheets due to need. Easier... maybe, if you are doing so well that it is a no-brainer to want to be part of it. But then it gets back to the point of giving up equity when there is no need.

Pay attention to the messenger too. If a VC tells you to raise money ”just in case”, they might mean ”I want in on your explosive growth”. Nothing wrong with that, just be mindful of people’s motives.

In my experience, VCs are friendly, honest, helpful and understanding — and they absolutely will adjust their offers depending on whether you have time to shop around for better offers before you have to start laying off people or even closing altogether.

The analogy I give is this - when you fly SF to NY, the pilot does not have exactly the correct amount of fuel to make the trip. That would be foolish. You'd want to have some reserve (say another hour or two of fuel) as insurance. Sure, that costs you equity, but its insurance equity.

It's always more expensive than not if you never need it.

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