I used to be a VC. Now I’ve found a better way to build a company

# Plain-English Summary A former venture capitalist argues that today's founders are pressured to raise far more money than they actually need—Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, and Google combined raised less than $35 million before becoming trillion-dollar companies, yet modern startups chase billion-dollar funding rounds as standard. The shift happened in the late 1990s when the "get big fast" strategy became popular in Silicon Valley, convincing everyone that massive capital was essential for success. The author now believes this playbook is outdated, and founders should focus on building efficiently rather than chasing inflated funding targets.