I know this isn't the point of the article by any means, but the first sentence (Raising millions of dollars from VCs is still the tech entrepreneurs’ dream.) bothers me a bit. I don't know about anyone else, but my dream is to run a profitable company, and how I get there has no bearing. Am I in the minority here?
99.99% of tech entrepreneurs don't have the resources to build and scale a technology company to profitability. It's HARD. It's expensive. A very small number of ideas can be brought to market for free, scaled in your off-time until the magical day that you can quit your day job. Some ideas require a team of people, and teams are very hard to get/keep for free.
So yeah, raising money is a dream of a lot of people so that they can set aside their day job and focus on the company that they want to build. The deeper motivations might be to build a profitable company, to get to a liquidity event, to get rich, to change the world, or just to create something that they want to exist...
I agree that in a lot of cases, raising money is the best way to get somewhere. The problem is that sites like Techcrunch often treat raising money not as a means to an end, but as an end in itself.
What's wrong with that? I read TechCrunch (and other startup blogs) mainly so I know what companies are getting funding. This is relevant for partnering, consulting, and to scope out competition.
I agree with you completely and share the same dream. Having millions of dollars with which to build a corporate giant for some hotshot executives will surely distract me from doing what I really love, which is building things. Running a small company that is just profitable enough for me to maintain a comfortable lifestyle while I get to do what I love will make me infinitely happier.
