Have any of you taken venture capital?

[CompiledMonkey]

Just wondering how many people here have taken venture capital for their business.

[dvduval]

I've known people that turned it down after they learned the specifics. I think venture capital is usually best for someone who already has a good deal of money and profits coming in, and would be fine without the venture capital, but feel they can make more with it, and don't mind sharing the profits with someone else.

[shaxs]

I think venture capital is usually best for someone who already has a good deal of money and profits coming in, and would be fine without the venture capital, but feel they can make more with it, and don't mind sharing the profits with someone else.

I don't necessarily agree with this statement. TONS of companies get funded with no revenue based on a great concept or maybe even a product to show. In fact, many companies get funded who don't even have a solid business model in place (IMO). It's quite crazy actually.

I turned down VC money for a few reasons and took an angel investor instead for http://www.CleverTools.com. First, VC wants you to have an extra strategy- i.e. be acquired by a large company like Google, go IPO, ect. I want to run and enjoy my company and not necessarily have an exit strategy. I don't mind working at a profitable company for the long term. Hence why I took investment from the owner of the company where I quit to work on my startup full time. He has owned his internet company for over 10 years and continues to add new product offerings and improve current ones. That is the same route I want to go. Secondly, I have a hard time trusting someone who puts a lot of money into a company. Obviously they want to make their money back and sometimes VCs will throw you under the bus to make it happen. I took the angel investor because I personally knew, trusted, and respected the individual who invested in my company.

[Dan Grossman]

A little insight into what VCs are looking for:
http://sequoiacap.com/ideas/

To the OP, I haven't seen founders of many (any?) true startups on these forums before. It's mostly the usual small business and self-funded websites.

After one of my sites hit the "movers & shakers" list on Alexa's homepage last year I was contacted by partners at two VC firms, but nothing came of it. I have a profitable little business here, but it doesn't have a billion dollar potential market for them to invest in.

[CompiledMonkey]

Appreciate the replies. I recently submitted an idea to the iFund program for iPhone SDK applications. For me, it's not possible to implement my idea without funding. Central to my idea is a source of nearly real-time data which is in the $30k/yr area. If it were possible to do it without taking outside money, I'd be all over it. I also don't know anyone who has enough cash to be considered an angel investor. If you know of any, please send them my way.