Good points, but there's still the fundamental problem of investing: either you try to make profits now, on the scale that you can do that with your current resources, or you try to make a bigger bang later on which will pay for your early losses. It's the same as "should I go to university or start working now?" or "Should I spend my days fishing with this spear or invent a better way, eg a net? If I take too long I'll starve."<p>All the points he makes have a double-edged quality to them: keep more of the company, but what if getting a VC boost would give me a smaller slice of a bigger pie? Build something small now, or build the killer product for next year? Keep things simple, or home run later? Focus on things that matter, or pay for someone to come in and cover those bases? Build culture, or let it emerge?<p>There's an ecological aspect to this as well. If a lot of firms can make big bets, it reduces opportunity for a smaller player to grow into the niche that's being fought for.
"Sales is what you want your CEO to focus on, not flight-jumping to deliver investor pitches, 3-minute conference quickfire showcases and endless networking."<p>Strongly agree with this one although networking especially in a startup should not be underestimated. Its extremely important especially in smaller regions (like mine) to build up a solid network as a company noone has on the radar.