If you think VC money and headcount predict startup success...
You’re already LOSING.
You scaled from 5 to 50 employees in 6 months? Congrats, you're now the proud owner of a bloated payroll and a fragile culture.
You raised $20M? Cool story. Let’s see if you even survive the year.
Here’s the lie everyone swallowed:
↳ More people = more progress
↳ More dollars = less risk
Utter BS.
Let’s talk facts:
1/ Employee count is just overhead unless you’ve nailed product-market fit and your ops are actually splitting at the seams. Until then, every new hire is either window-dressing or a future layoff.
2/ Amount raised is a distraction at best, a timebomb at worst. Money doesn’t fix a broken product, a confused vision, or founder delusion. It just hides your incompetence for another quarter.
3/ You know what actually matters? MRR, retention, NPS, margin — numbers that come from solving real pain for real customers.
The VC echo chamber won’t admit this because it destroys their “growth story”, but here’s the truth:
↳ 10 ruthless A-players will run circles around 40 LinkedIn zombies any day.
↳ $50K in customer-driven revenue is worth more than $5M in "strategic capital" burning a hole in your bank account.
More headcount doesn’t get you freedom.
Fatter rounds don’t get you product-market fit.
The ONLY thing that matters is getting brutally honest about what creates real value, and cutting every ounce of dead weight.
So here’s my free advice:
If you care about real success, stop playing the vanity metric game.
Stay lean. Stay lethal. Build for profit, not press.
Don’t let LinkedIn fool you.
Employee count and capital raised measure ego, not outcomes.
Agree? Disagree? Fight me in the comments.
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