Startups are still the same thing as they have been for 10, 20, even 100 years. You build something of value, and try to convert that value into assets. Acquiring companies won't look so much at your cashflow, but rather you as an asset that complements their existing processes. So the goal is basically to build as much asset as fast as possible, take it as far as you can, and sell that to someone who can take it further.

Bootstrapping is tough for tech, because the curve is usually exponential. If you were selling lasagna, you could easily make $1000 profit the first week, and bootstrapping is easy.

With tech, it's quite common to spend a year trying to get to $1000/week, and then make $30k/week the next year.

You also have to consider competition. There are many kinds of ideas. Making a Tinder for X might not have too much competition, but if you do something that Google/Amazon/Facebook is building, you'll get crushed if you move too slowly.

This is usually where venture backing comes in - investors are happy at getting good returns, and you're happy at skipping years of consulting, etc to pay the bills.

Don't spend too much time negotiating or optimizing; you're aiming for 3300% annual growth and a 20% better deal isn't worth your time. Paul Graham/Viaweb started at 10% for $10k. (http://www.paulgraham.com/ycstart.html) It seems unfair, but it was still a good deal for both sides.