What's your thesis of the best path to success?
There's a great Twitter thread that I took part in that was started by Josh Felser, investor at Freestyle Capital. Here is Josh's initial tweet:
I still can't fund founders who are waiting to quit their jobs before they go full time. I get the financial constraint but I want to back founders who are so compelled that they cant even imagine doing anything else
— Josh Felser (@Joshmedia) February 17, 2018
Of course, with Twitter being Twitter, there was some vitriol spewed at Josh.
We all know that the outcome of this nearly universal practice is that YOU specifically are structurally locking out historically underrepresented groups - it’s irresponsible + unnecessarily restrictive. Everyone shld look closely at that before doing business w you. — Sekai Farai (@SekaiFarai) February 18, 2018
So you find reckless, irresponsible founders and refuse those who have genius ideas but kids to support or health care to pay.
— Damion Schubert, Dark Warlord of Game Design (@ZenOfDesign) February 19, 2018
I jumped in, asking about my situation in particular:
I am learning that perhaps I should be less binary. I respect whatever you have to do to make it work for you — Josh Felser (@Joshmedia) February 23, 2018
Everyone is going to have a different opinion on how to best get things done. Some founders - those with families, lots of debt, and other factors - will have more constraints than others and can't fully take the leap to work on their venture. Others may choose to be more risk-averse and work on their startups on the side until the time is right to make that jump. And some may go balls-to-the-wall, leave their gigs, and just run as fast as they can to get their startup off the ground. There's no one-size-fits-all approach. We all have our theses. Josh has his thesis about those founders who won't quit their job until they get funding. If you don't agree, that's fine. Just find another investor who is more aligned with your approach. I'm sure they're out there. Josh may miss out on some successful investments. And he'll have to be OK with that. My wife has been extremely supportive of my startup endeavors, is the breadwinner of the family, and carries the brunt of paying for our expenses. I couldn't do this without her. As much as I would love to work full-time on my startup, I have to contribute to my family's well-being by bringing in income. The time to go full-time on my startup will come, but now's not the right time. Josh won't fund me, and that's OK. There are different paths to success, and everyone will have a different opinion about what that path is. Do what's best for you.