Bootstraps vs. VC Funded — Who’s most likely to make the most money?

VC funded will probably succeed more because they get more coverage. And if you are in a niche that will only have 1-2 big players, it kinda helps getting that initial coverage to grow fast.<p>Honestly I don't think I can come up with 1 big player(100mm/yr revenue) of the top of my head, that never took any funding.

That's pretty straight forward. It goes without saying that the more ownership of the company you can retain via self funding the larger the potential return is going to be. I would suggest looking at VC money as diluting risk rather than relinquishing unrealized wealth.

But that's not the question. The question is: where is your best bet as a founder to make the most money over the long haul factoring in the relative odds of any success at all (which are likely different).