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the message you get if you browse the other startup self-help literature is "don't seek outside investment, the probability of getting funded is low, slow and steady and sustainable is better than flashy and fast and rich, investors have different goals than you, investors will take your time, if you are unlucky investors might destroy your vision".
the implict message you get engaging with the startup ecosystem, going to incubators etc, is quite different. Early-stage companies that are neither funded nor profitable are seen as newbies/students/pretend. Funded companies, even if unprofitable, are seen as regulars/teachers/having arrived. Founders of old companies that are profitable or have cashed out are seen as masters, but the perceived gap between them and the young funded companies is less than between the young funded companies and the young unfunded ones. Businesses whose plans don't include improbably rapid expansion to improbably large market sizes are derided/dismissed as 'lifestyle businesses'.
The reason for this pro-investment feeling is clear. Businesses are expensive. To employ even a small team for a few years can easily cost more than half a million dollars (this is counting all business expenses, e.g. office rent and travel and lawyers etc, not just payroll). Do you have half a million dollars? Didn't think so. Did you want everyone to work full-time on this? Thought so. Do you think you can do all the work yourself without anyone else helping for the first few years? Didn't think so.
Upon seeing this, it becomes clear that all that "beware of taking outside investment" stuff you see in the literature is a reaction, attempting to moderate the pro-investment feeling on the ground. So what's the conclusion? I don't know.
needs large scale to amortize fixed costs -> needs investors
"98% of the time, the right answer is to start out and remain focused on one vertical until you take it over. Most startups expand far too early and then fade out everywhere (this is often the fault of bad advice from investors). Facebook started in an extremely small vertical (Harvard undergrads), then expanded to a still-small vertical (US colleges), and then at some point took over the Internet." -- Sam Altman
https://posthog.com/blog/what-to-ask-in-interviews https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31906933
