Only 4% of US startups ever see VC money.
Yet, most headlines forget about the rest of us. (LOL)
Everyone acts like TechCrunch validation is the only scoreboard that matters.
But here's the inconvenient truth: most founders won’t ever get a term sheet, and that’s EXACTLY where the real companies are forged.
While the 4% chase headlines and high-fives at demo day, the rest of us get busy surviving.
Building.
Owning every gritty damn inch.
Stop worshipping the capital parade.
Here’s what happens when you lean out and bootstrap:
↳ Every dollar is yours. No cap table passengers demanding growth at all costs.
↳ Nobody’s breathing down your neck for updates about some “North Star Metric.”
↳ Zero funding theater, just feedback from real customers.
↳ All focus on profit, not pumping up vanity metrics for the next photo op.
↳ Company culture built through adversity. Not perks, not ping pong.
This is exactly how we built BuddiesHR:
Scrappy.
Owner-led.
Profitable.
No suits to answer to, just customers to obsess over.
When stuff gets hard for VC-backed startups, guess who they envy?
The 96% who call their own shots.
The ones with clean cap tables, real revenue, and freedom.
Here’s the punchline:
Only 4% see VC, and most still go belly-up.
The rest? At least we keep our souls (and our upside).
You want power? You want real freedom?
Own your stack. Build profit, not headlines.
That’s founder leverage. Everything else is noise.
----------
👋 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.
Follow me for more content like this 👆
P.S. I'm writing a no-BS B2B SaaS playbook with everything I've learned. Want a free copy? Click “Visit my website” to sign up.