I don't laugh at bootstrapping at all, and have tons of respect for people who can do it all the way. But sometimes some runway is needed. But by all means you should bootstrap as far as you can go that way. The more you de-risk and get traction bootstrapping, the better the terms will be if you do raise... By a huge margin.

I too do not understand some of these things that raise millions on nothing. Don't get it at all. The only thing I can figure is that they have some connections, or there is something funny going on.