I think this is actually pretty solid advice. If you have to take on external capital do it only when your own resources are absolutely exhausted. If you have a fancy car, a house without a mortgage and you're going out there to get a couple of grand of seed capital in order to launch your startup you are doing something badly wrong.<p>Assuming, of course that you really believe in your new venture it is much smarter to:<p>- liquidate any assets that you have that you can easily get some money for<p>- borrow from your bank, they take interest, not equity<p>- use your savings if you have any<p>If the above is not an option and you are starting your startup with $0 in your pockets and out of necessity rather than because you really have a working idea then I would suggest to get a job, work for a bit, save a bit and try to launch your startup on the side.<p>Once it's a going concern, you have your idea ready to launch of you've already launched and you can present some initial growth figures then you're ready to take on external investors.