“My company is 100% bootstrapped. Should I raise?”

Is the investor-backed grass greener?

Hello and welcome to Founder Things. This week, let’s address an important question: is the investor-backed grass greener?

“My company is 100% bootstrapped. I'm trying to figure out if I should raise an angel round through a SAFE or if I should continue bootstrapping. I'm trying to see what will make my life better and give me and my company the better future and am having a hard time deciding. A lot of my friends who have raised money say they're having a very tough go of it.”

I’ll share my own thoughts, and I have a lot of them. But first:

I wanted to bring in a perspective from the VC side for this one. Enter Eric Bahn, Co-Founder and General Partner at Hustle Fund, an early-stage venture capital fund.

Hustle Fund invested in my last company, and I think they are the gold standard of investors. They’ve built an incredible brand and portfolio but above all, they are good people. They do so much to give back to the community, sharing knowledge with founders on Twitter as well as educating and supporting their angel investor network. 

Prior to being a VC, Eric was a bootstrapped founder. I couldn’t think of a better person to see an issue from all sides. Here’s what he had to say.