# Bootstrap vs. Angel or VC **URL:** \ **Category:** Founder Focused\ **Tags:** think-tank\ **Created:** [May 9, 2025, 4:20pm UTC](https://community.hubspot.com/t/bootstrap-vs-angel-or-vc/131624 "2025-05-09T16:20:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Unknown\_Connect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/aca169/32.png) [@Unknown\_Connect](https://community.hubspot.com/u/Unknown_Connect)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2025, 4:20pm UTC](https://community.hubspot.com/t/bootstrap-vs-angel-or-vc/131624/1 "2025-05-09T16:20:34Z")
Well I have done both more than once in my career. I doubt if you want a book here so what specifically are you looking for? --- This post was migrated from [connect.com](http://connect.com) and was originally published at an earlier date. ---
**Author:** ![Unknown\_Connect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/aca169/32.png) [@Unknown\_Connect](https://community.hubspot.com/u/Unknown_Connect)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2025, 4:20pm UTC](https://community.hubspot.com/t/bootstrap-vs-angel-or-vc/131624/2 "2025-05-09T16:20:35Z")
I’ll take the book. --- This post was migrated from [connect.com](http://connect.com) and was originally published at an earlier date. ---
**Author:** ![Unknown\_Connect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/aca169/32.png) [@Unknown\_Connect](https://community.hubspot.com/u/Unknown_Connect)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2025, 4:20pm UTC](https://community.hubspot.com/t/bootstrap-vs-angel-or-vc/131624/3 "2025-05-09T16:20:36Z")
LOL, it is a tough question that could be answered in a myriad of ways depending on the angle of perspective. I will go through a top-of-my-head answer. First, my LinkedIn account is 2keithlandis. For the last seven years until last month, I was a consultant who specialized in answering this question many times. I bootstrapped earlier in my career. Looking back on it now, I am glad I did it when I was young and didn’t truly understand the risks because I would probably be too cautious now. Pros and Cons of bootstrapping. Your stakeholders are employees, clients, and vendors. That is also the downside because if you find early success, you tend to think it is easily replicable. An example is a restaurant in the paper this past Sunday. A local Hispanic-style chicken restaurant was very successful. The restaurant was in Lancaster City in Lancaster County PA. The city has roughly 60,000 people, and the county has approximately 600,000. The demographics of the city are highly skewed to be out of the norm and highly Hispanic. The rest of the county is the exact opposite, with a higher-than-average white population. The first restaurant was in the city and a crazy success; the food and staff were great, and it was quite popular. You can guess the rest of the story. Quickly, three more restaurants were established in high-traffic areas in the suburbs, so those three drained the profits of the original location, and now, as soon as it began, it is over. I spent many restless nights worrying about paying payroll when playing with the house money. Conversely, when the entities matured I had an airplane and went to the Caribbean 4 weeks a year. Pros and Cons of Angel and VC money. First, it is much harder than Shark Tank would like you to think that it is to raise money. I have seen wonderful opportunities that never raised the funding that they needed. Once obtaining funding, you instantly have an additional stakeholder (s). Also, as opposed to Shark Tank, you will never again own a majority of shares. Most founders own somewhere in the 10% by the time something great happens. As you obtain more funding and look at your cap table, you will find out how much dilution there is. On the other hand, Jeff Bezos owns just over 9% of Amazon, and I don’t think any of us would complain about that. An upside is that if a company goes under, you might exit as a millionaire if you end it well as many did in the 08 financial crisis. I hope that helps a little --- This post was migrated from [connect.com](http://connect.com) and was originally published at an earlier date. ---
**Author:** ![Victor\_Becerra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/87869e/32.png) [@Victor\_Becerra](https://community.hubspot.com/u/Victor_Becerra)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2025, 4:20pm UTC](https://community.hubspot.com/t/bootstrap-vs-angel-or-vc/131624/4 "2025-05-09T16:20:37Z")
I’m curious Keith Landis, reflecting on your experience, what do you think are the most critical factors for a startup to achieve sustainable growth? --- This post was migrated from [connect.com](http://connect.com) and was originally published at an earlier date. ---
**Author:** ![Unknown\_Connect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/aca169/32.png) [@Unknown\_Connect](https://community.hubspot.com/u/Unknown_Connect)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2025, 4:20pm UTC](https://community.hubspot.com/t/bootstrap-vs-angel-or-vc/131624/5 "2025-05-09T16:20:38Z")
The most salient answer would be to quantify the amount of pain you are resolving as much as possible. The widget might be perfect, but the idea will die if the pain isn’t high enough. Have the guts to get in front of as many end users as possible and take their comments to heart. This is easier said than done as there tends to be a mindset, self-included that this rendition of my widget is a unicorn and a high percentage of the time, it is not. A quick example: I was at a solar energy show last week. Battery backup in the industry is huge. A startup was there, CEO the whole bit with a cool battery backup system on wheels; no one had ever seen this. It was meant to be able to be charged and then wheeled to where the battery was needed. Great idea but with 2 problems. First, it weighed 300 lbs…so not able for an individual or two to safely go up and down steps. Secondly, they successfully solved a problem that isn’t really a problem. It is easier and cheaper [it costs $10,000 wholesale] to run cable than to hoist that thing. They haven’t sold any. --- This post was migrated from [connect.com](http://connect.com) and was originally published at an earlier date. ---
**Author:** ![Unknown\_Connect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/aca169/32.png) [@Unknown\_Connect](https://community.hubspot.com/u/Unknown_Connect)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2025, 4:20pm UTC](https://community.hubspot.com/t/bootstrap-vs-angel-or-vc/131624/6 "2025-05-09T16:20:39Z")
Great comments Keith! It seems the current investment environment requires founders to bootstrap through product-market-fit (ie: having paying customers). Then, possibly get funding for a clear growth plan. Doesn’t seem to be any appetite for investments in unproven ideas, or to fund v1 product development. So unless you have connections or a team that has had successfully fundraised and exit experience, prepare to bootstrap! --- This post was migrated from [connect.com](http://connect.com) and was originally published at an earlier date. ---
**Author:** ![Unknown\_Connect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/aca169/32.png) [@Unknown\_Connect](https://community.hubspot.com/u/Unknown_Connect)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2025, 4:20pm UTC](https://community.hubspot.com/t/bootstrap-vs-angel-or-vc/131624/7 "2025-05-09T16:20:40Z")
Totally accurate. The last startup that I assisted, we were able to get Angel funding through a friend of a friend of mine. Had I not had that contact, while remote, I am not sure that the project would have been funded. What I still think is a great business plan in the fintech world is still sitting on my desk, and that was taken to the wire-frame phase. --- This post was migrated from [connect.com](http://connect.com) and was originally published at an earlier date.