I’ve watched brilliant founders raise millions from VCs...
And walk away with burnout and NOTHING. Nada. $0.
It’s a f*cking tragedy. One nobody wants to talk about.
Here’s what they don’t put on TechCrunch:
You close that “oversubscribed” round.
You pop champagne. Snap the LinkedIn selfie.
Ego jacked sky-high for 48 hours.
Then reality shows up:
↳ Your cap table is messier than your Slack DMs.
↳ Every decision is a board meeting.
↳ Investors suddenly “care about” everything. Right down to the damn font in the pitch deck.
So here’s how the next 18 months really play out:
1/ You pivot. Not because the market moved. But because your lead wants “bigger TAM.”
2/ You hire a sales team before you’ve even built the real product.
3/ Your “burn rate” becomes a daily prayer.
4/ You try to outrun markets, mistakes, and missed payrolls.
Deep down, founders already know:
You’re not chasing vision anymore—you’re just chasing survival.
Nobody talks about the fallout rate.
Nobody shows the depression, the co-founder breakups, the Sunday nights spent sweating about next month’s metrics.
And worst of all: when it tanks?
The VC moves on. Portfolio’s diversified, baby.
But YOU? You’re wiped out. Not just the equity.
Your confidence. Your relationships. Sometimes your health.
At BuddiesHR, that was my nightmare scenario.
That’s why I walked from the fundraising hamster wheel.
Bootstrapped. Profitable. Actually sleeping at night.
I know founders crave validation. The “win.” The million-dollar round.
But what you really need?
↳ Clarity.
↳ Profit.
↳ Sanity.
Remember: Ownership is leverage.
VC is optional. Regret is forever.
Want to build something real?
Solve gnarly problems. Stack dirty revenue. Protect your f*cking peace.
The rest is just fundraising theatre. And most of the audience is asleep.
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👋 Hey, I'm J.Y!
I'm the co-founder of BuddiesHR, the #1 Employee Engagement Software that lives in Slack.
I post 1x a day about my journey and share what I've learned along the way.
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