Why I'm Betting Against VC Money in 2026

Do not index

Many VC funds would love to invest in my companies.

And I can raise funds for new ventures at an inflated valuation because of my past experience.

But I will never consider it.

Not because I'm anti-VC.

Because the game has changed, and nobody's talking about it.

Here’s the proof 👇🏼

OpenClaw: One Austrian developer. OpenAI hired him within weeks. No VC needed.

On X: 100s of indie hackers making $10k+ per month without any institutional support.

My portfolio: $125k → $1m MRR in 18 months. 5 products, 5 co-founders, zero VC money.

This isn't anecdotal. It's the new normal.

What changed exactly?

1 - AI collapsed build costs.

What took $500k and 6 months now takes $5k and 2 weeks.

VC money was for building an idea into a product.

Building is cheap now.

2 - Distribution beats capital.

Money can't buy an authentic audience. My creative investors model (0.1% equity) beats $100k in ads every day.

(for more context about the 0.1% equity model, read this)

Personal brands win long term.

3 - Speed is the new moat.

Small teams ship weekly. Big teams ship quarterly.

"Speed + focus > capital + bloat. Smaller teams today with agentic systems can deliver better results." - GrowthShuttle

By the time VC-backed validates one idea, I've validated and scaled five.

4 - Ideas became 10x more valuable.

"Execution used to beat ideas" was true when building was hard.

Now ideas are worth 10x more than they used to be.

Because AI makes execution trivial. Anyone can build your idea in 48 hours.

The hard part is knowing WHAT to build.

Market insight, taste, timing - that's the moat now.

What VC money costs

VC backed founders spend 142 days on average raising instead of building. That's 5 months not shipping.

You trade:

20%+ equity

Board seats

Pressure to grow at all costs

Misaligned incentives (exit vs cashflow)

For what? Money you don't need if you're resourceful.

The indie advantage

Stay small: my team has 10 people across 5 products. Their team has 50 people on 1 product. I move 10x faster.

Stay profitable: My small companies are 10x more profitable than the $100m giants who burn it all on marketing.

Stay authentic: I share real numbers and struggles. They can't (board won't allow). Authenticity = distribution advantage.

Stay nimble: I can run experiments, grow SuperX.so, pivot Outrank.so. They can't (sunk cost, investor expectations).

PS…If you're a developer: My friend wrote a free ebook on picking the right software frameworks. Actually useful, not generic advice. Get it here: https://dailytips.dev/ebook/

My prediction for this year

More $10M+ exits from bootstrapped than VC-backed (in our category)

Sam Altman's "one-person billion-dollar company" will be bootstrapped

Best talent chooses equity in small companies over salaries at big ones

What this means for you:

Ask yourself: What do I actually need VC money FOR?

The only reason to raise:

You've found PMF, need to buy heavy material, you're scaling profitably, and capital accelerates something already working.

Not to figure it out. Not to buy your way to PMF. Not because "that's what startups do."

This isn't "VC is bad."

It's "VC is the wrong tool for most builders now."

VC makes sense for:

True infrastructure plays

Regulated industries

Winner-take-all markets needing rapid land grab

But for internet businesses - you're using a forklift to move a chair.

Tell me by replying, what do you think of raising money from VC 👇🏼

I read every email, and often reply!

Tweet of the week

Never lose sight of the bigger picture in life and work.

50% of the work is just doing the work.

Ship it today!

That’s it for this week.

Until next week,

Keep building

Tibo 💻

P.S. If you raised VC and it's working, I'm genuinely curious what you're using it for that couldn't be done bootstrapped. Hit reply and share with me.