Day 865 - Raising $100M vs earning $1 - https://golifelog.com/posts/raising-dollar100m-vs-earning-dollar1-1684138031512
Them startup founders: We're happy to announce we just raised $100M for our startup!
Us indie hackers: Look mom, I earned $1 from the internet!
We're not built the same.
Here's a totally biased take on why that $1 is better for most of us:
- That $100M isn't even yours to take home. It's mostly for hiring 10x developers, buying ads on Google and Facebook, and the remaining for a cool office. Most of them earn nothing for years, all in hopes for an asymmetric payoff (if it even does). That $1 is all yours to keep (of course, not accounting for taxes yet).
- That $100M comes with lots of strings attached. Too many, including giving away your first-born. That $1? Only what was promised in the sale.
- You just got yourself a boss (your VC funder) with that $100M. I stay being a boss with that $1.
- The more you raise the more you lose freedom. The more you earn the more you gain freedom.
- Getting that $100M means you signed up to work as a slave with zero work-life balance for the next 5 to 10 years. Earning that $1 means you are getting towards better time freedom and balance *within* the next 5-10 years.
- Being happy with $1 keeps me grounded and real. Drinking the tech startup Koolaid of changing the world, going big or going home, makes me lose sight of reality.
*What other reasons are there to go for that $1?*
Us indie hackers: Look mom, I earned $1 from the internet!
We're not built the same.
Here's a totally biased take on why that $1 is better for most of us:
- That $100M isn't even yours to take home. It's mostly for hiring 10x developers, buying ads on Google and Facebook, and the remaining for a cool office. Most of them earn nothing for years, all in hopes for an asymmetric payoff (if it even does). That $1 is all yours to keep (of course, not accounting for taxes yet).
- That $100M comes with lots of strings attached. Too many, including giving away your first-born. That $1? Only what was promised in the sale.
- You just got yourself a boss (your VC funder) with that $100M. I stay being a boss with that $1.
- The more you raise the more you lose freedom. The more you earn the more you gain freedom.
- Getting that $100M means you signed up to work as a slave with zero work-life balance for the next 5 to 10 years. Earning that $1 means you are getting towards better time freedom and balance *within* the next 5-10 years.
- Being happy with $1 keeps me grounded and real. Drinking the tech startup Koolaid of changing the world, going big or going home, makes me lose sight of reality.
*What other reasons are there to go for that $1?*