>> 2: Don't take VC money unless you're absolutely sure about how you're going to use it to grow your business. > I could be wrong but shouldn't this almost always be to pay your employees?

Warning: opinions ahead, proceed with caution...

I think it's easy to equate your employee headcount with growth, but I think this often leads to companies growing their headcount too fast without the preparation necessary to handle that employee growth. I consider this unhealthy growth.

Contrast this with growing your revenue and profit, which I consider healthy growth. If you take funding because you know how you can channel that funding into further revenue and profit, then you've found an excellent reason to take funding. Anything else and you're doing yourself and everyone involved with your business a disservice.

Yes, if you take funding you will likely grow your employee count, but hopefully you'll do so in a precise fashion, with a plan on how those new employees help improve the bottom line of the business.

There are at least some people who would tell you that the only reason to take VC money is if you need it to scale your sales/marketing efforts.

And implied by that is that you only take money when you're at the stage that scaling your sales/marketing makes sense, which is usually after product/market fit.

(All of this doesn't mean that most money doesn't go to salaries - most money does go to salaries.)